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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 






A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



FOR 



HIGH SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES 



■j^^y^- 



A 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



FOR 



HIGH SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES 



BY 

KATHARINE COMAN, Ph.B. 

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND ECONOMICS IN WELLESLEY COLLEGE 

AND 

ELIZABETH KIMBALL KENDALL, M.A. 

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN WELLESLEY COLLEGE 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 
1899 

A^l rights reserved 



r<S^ 






.^Jbrsiry of 



Co^^ 






o, 



kL^^ c-J 



Copyright, 1899, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 

TWO COPIES RECEIVED. 




FIRST COPY. 






NorfaooD ^ress 

J. S. Cushinfc & Co. — Berwick & Smith 
Norwood Mass. U.S.A. 



.9? 



5 



PREFACE 

In offering a new History of England for use in prepara- 
tory schools, the authors have borne in mind the history 
requirement recently adopted by several leading colleges 
and universities. The proposed full year course admits of 
something more than a narrative of pohtical events occur- 
ring between the Roman conquest and the reign of Victoria. 
The student may hope to get some comprehension of the 
various factors that have worked together to produce mod- 
ern Britain. The physical environment afforded by the 
British Isles, the race traits of the peoples that have occu- 
pied the land, the methods by which they have wrought out 
industrial prosperity, the measures by which they have 
attained self-government, all are essential to an adequate 
understanding of the growth of the Enghsh nation. Within 
the limits imposed by text-book dimensions we have en- 
deavored to bring out these phases of the national life. 

The part played in the history of the British Isles by the 
Celtic element in the population has been developed more 
fully than is usual, not only because Wales, Cornwall, Scot- 
land, and Ireland are integral, parts of Britain, but because 
of the reflex influence the long race contest has exercised 
upon the national character. The European wars und^^ 
taken by the English crown have been discussed only so 



vi Preface 

far as they affect industrial prosperity, constitutional ten- 
dencies, or international relations. Colonial enterprises, on 
the other hand, have been quite fully treated, because com- 
mercial development is directly concerned. The imperial 
policy of Great Britain is outlined in the final chapter. 

Keeping in view the increasing number of high school 
teachers who purpose to emancipate their students from 
the text-book by referring them to all available authorities, 
we have furnished with each chapter a list of the best special 
treatises. General accounts, such as Green's Short History 
of the English People, Bright's History of England, Traill's 
Social England, Cunningham's Outlines of English Indus- 
trial History, are rendered more accessible to the student 
by detailed marginal references. The historical accuracy 
of the " imaginative literature " cannot be vouched for, but 
we believe that the attention of classes may well be called 
to some of the most successful of these attempts to revive 
the past. 

A far more vivid and genuine picture of bygone deeds 
and historical personages may be had from the original 
records. The narrative of a contemporary will often lend 
new value to a stock story or throw a flood of light upon 
an ambiguous character. The most important sources are 
indicated at the head of each chapter. But the first-hand 
accounts are not to be found in the usual town library, and 
the old chronicler is often so prolix, dull, or obscure as to 
discourage the youthful reader. The authors have under- 
taken to edit a series of illustrative texts in English history 
adapted to the use of preparatory school students. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

Physical Characteristics of the British Isles . . . i 



CHAPTER II 

Race Elements of the English Nation . . . .11 

CHAPTER III 
Foreign Rule . . . 56 

CHAPTER IV 
The Fusion of Races . . . . . . • . 93 

CHAPTER V 
The Struggle for the Charter 116 

CHAPTER_VI 
The Rise of the Commons . . . . . , . 148 

CHAPTER VII 
Dynastic Wars 187 

CHAPTER VIII 

The Tudors and the Reformation 213 

- vii 



viii Table of Contents 



CHAPTER IX 

PAGE 

England of the Tudors ,..,.... 268 



CHAPTER X 
The Puritan Revolution 285 

CHAPTER XI 
The Restoration and the Revolution .... 332 

CHAPTER XII 
Parties and Party Government . , . . . .358 

CHAPTER XIII 
Colonial Expansion 408 

CHAPTER XIV 
The Growth of Democracy 423 

CHAPTER XV 
The Industrial Revolution .... ... 466 

CHAPTER XVI f 
The British Empire 487 



LIST OF MAPS 



I. Physiographic Maps of the British Isles between pages 4 and ^ 

Industrial Resources of England . . . facing pa^e 8 

II. Roman Britain ..... 

Germanic Settlements .... 

Alfred's England . . . . 

III. Migrations of the Northmen 
Race Distribution in England as indicated by Names of 

Places ....... 

England and Normandy in 1065 

IV. Dominions of the House of Anjou . . 
London in the Twelfth Century 

V. Wales in the Reign of Edward I . . . 

Scotland in the Reign of Edward I . 
VI. England in the Reign of Edward III 
Scotland and the English Border 
English Possessions in France, 1360 
VII. France in 1429 . . . . . . 

The Wars of the Roses ..... 

VIII. Western Europe at the Accession of Elizabeth 
The Spanish Empire in the Reign of Philip II 
Ireland in the Sixteenth Century 
X. England and Wales during the Civil War 
Scotland since 1603 ..... 

XL Ireland since the Accession of the Stuarts 
XII. England and Wales, 1 660-1 81 5 

The Netherlands in 1702 ..... 
Europe in 1792 . . 

XIII. North America in 1750 . . . . 
India, 1784, 1804, 1834, 1857 . 

XIV. England in 1831 . . . between pages \Tp and \2)'^ 

(Distribution of population and representation.) 

XV. British Isles in 1 89 1 . . between pages 480 and 4S1 

(Distribution of population.) 

XVI. The British Empire . . . between pages 4SS and 4Sg 
Africa, 1892 492 



27 
29 
42 

58 

61 

65 
96 

135 

138 

150 

154 
158 

192 
199 

255 
258 
261 

312 

322 

facing page 352 

360 

365 
402 

413 
417 



IX 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 



Engraving of a Mammoth on a Portion of a Tusk . . .12 

Joly, Alan before Metals. 
Primitive Canoe ."......... 13 

De Worsaae, The Primceval Antiquities of Denmark 
Prehistoric Weapons 15 

Evans, Ancient Stone hnplenients. 
East View of Old Sarum . . ' 16 

From an old print in The Gentleman'' s Magazine 

Coracle of the Early Briton 18 

A Roman Galley, shovi^ing the Boarding Bridge, etc. ... 20 
Tablet found near the Roman Wall . . . . . .22 

Windle, Life ifi Early Britain. 
Multiangular Tov^^er, York, the lower half of Roman masonry 24 

Ruins of lona Cathedral 32 

Macgibbon and Ross, Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland. 
Inscription from a Runic Stone ....••• 35 

De Worsaae, The Primceval Antiquities of Denmark. 
Saxon Church at Bradford-on-Avon 36 

Archceological Journal. 
Danish Armor 39 

De Worsaae, Industrial Arts of Denmark. 
Viking Ship found at Gokstadt 40 

Montelius, The Civilization of Sweden in Heathen Times. 
Ancient War Canoe . . • '43 

Miiller, Nordische Altertumskunde. 
Anglo-Saxon Relics of Gold and Bronze . . . . .48 
Upright Loom from the Faroe Islands 51 

Montelius, The Civilizatioti of Sweden in Heathen Times. 

xi 



xii Illustrations 

PAGE 

Glass Vases • • 54 

De Baye, Industrial Arts of the Anglo-Saxons 
Harold and his Courtiers ........ 66 

William's Fleet crossing the Channel 68 

The Battle of Hastings .68 

Flight of the English 68 

The four above are all from the Bayeux Tapestries. 
Tower of London ......... 71 

Efiigy of a Norman Knight in Armor 75 

Rochester Castle .......... 78 

Britton, Picturesque Antiquities of the Ejiglish Cities. 
Norman House at Lincoln called the Jews' House ... 81 

Gardiner, A Studenfs History of England. 
Side Aisle of White Chapel, Tower of London . . . .84 

Clark, Mediceval Military Architecture of England. 
Battle Abbey, Sussex • 87 

From an old print in The Universal Magazine 
Keep Tower, Lincoln Castle ....... 90 

Britton, Picturesque Antiquities of the English Cities. 

Seal of William I 91 

Byland Abbey. West End ........ 95 

Lefroy, Ruined Abbeys of Yorkshire. 
Part of the Choir of Canterbury Cathedral, in building 1175-1184 loi 

Scott, Mediceval Architecture. ( 

A Crusader. The Effigy of Sir Richard de Whatton . . . 107 

From an old print in The Gentlemaiis Magazine. 
« Ship " of Richard I in 

From the Manuscript of Matthew Paris. 
Exterior of the Gild House of the York Merchants Company . 112 

Lambert, Two Thousand Years of Gild Life. 
Seal of Henry I . . . . . . . . . .114 

Longthorpe Manor House, built about 1235 . . . .124 

Hudson Turner, Domestic Architecture. 
Wells Cathedral. West front 125 



Illustrations xiii 



PAGE 



Wells Cathedral. Dedicated 1239 130 

Conway Castle .......... 137 

Clark, Mediceval Military Architecture in England. 

Parliament of Edward I ....... , 141 

Bothwell Castle, Northumberland 143 

Salisbury Cathedral, built 1 220-1 258 ...... 14c 

Seal of Edward 1 146 

The Black Prince. Rechning effigy 1^7 

Gardner, Armour in England. 

Richard II Facing 162 \/ 

Chaucer •••........ 161; 

Bakers and Cooks, a.d. 1338-1344. Ms. Bodl. Misc., 264 . . 168 

Green, Short History of the English People. 

Nave of Winchester Cathedral 171 

Macgibbon, Ecclesiastical Architecture. 

Wiclif 173 

Preaching in the Open Air, A.D. 1 338-1 344. Ms. Bodl. Misc., 264 175 

Spinning with a Distaff. Early 14th century. Ms. Roy., 2 B. vii 176 

Spinning with a Wheel. Early 14th century. Ms. Roy., 10 E. iv 177 
Iron Workers, a.d. 1338- 1344. Ms. Bodl. Misc., 264 . .178 

The four above are from Green, Short History of the English 
People, by permission of Mrs. Green. 

Specimen of Early Cannon 1S4 

Demmin, An Ilhistrated History of Arms and Armor. 

Magdalen Cloisters ......... 194 

Henry VI .196 

After the portrait in the National Portrait Gallery. 
Suit of Full Armor. Middle of fifteenth century . . .197 

Richard III Facing 202 V^ . 

Raglan Castle . . . . , . . , , , 201; 

The George Inn, Glastonbury . . . . . , . 208 

After a painting by G. Arnald. 
Interior of King's College Chapel, Cambridge . . . .210 

Atkinson and Clark, Cambridge, Described and Illustrated. 



XIV 



Illustratio7is 



PAGH 

Heiirv\T[ ~ ^^5 

From an original painting in the National Portrait Gallen*. 

Chapel of Henry \TI, Westminster 219 

VUlars, Eiiglafui. 

Henry M:II ^^^ 

From a painting by Holbein. 

The Field of the Qoth of Gold 223 

From an engraving after the painting at Hampton Court. 
Christ Church College, Oxford .. = ..•• 225 

The Tithe Bam, Glastonbury ^^7 

The Abbey Kitchen, Glastonbury 228 

The Ruined Abbey, Glastonbury 231 

Coronation Procession of Edward W passing Cheapside Cross . 236 

Autograph of Edward VI ^° 

The two above are from Marck, Konigin Elizabeth. 

Mary Tudor . • ^ 

From a painting ascribed to Antonio Moro. 

Elizabeth ^45 

After the " Ermine Portrait " by Zucchero. 

Autograph of Elizabeth • • • 247 

Holyrood Palace • -250 

Autograph of Mary Stuart 251 

The three above are from Marck, Kofiigifi Elizabeth. 

Stirling Castle 253 

Winter, Grey Days and Gold. 

Elizabeth's Cradle 265 

Winter, Shakespeare s England. 

Old London Bridge 270 

Marck, Konigin Elizabeth. 

View in Great Friars' Street, Worcester 272 

Britton, Picturesque Antiquities. 

The Ship " Henri Grace a Dieu " 275 

Cumberland, The Story of the Union Jack. 
Drake 277 



Ilhisti'ations xv 



PAGE 



Interior of a Grammar School in the Sixteenth Century . . 282 

Winter, Grey Days and Gold. 
Timber House in the Corn Market, Worcester .... 284 

Britton, Picturesque Antiquities. 

Northwest View of Hatfield House 290 

Raleigh 293 

Signature of Francis, Lord Bacon 294 

Marck, Konigin Elizabeth. 

Charles I . . . Facing 294 

Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford ...... 298 

After the painting by Van Dyck. 
WiUiam Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury ..... 302 

From a portrait engraved for The Universal Magazifie. 
Hampden ........... 305 

After a portrait by J. Houbraken, 1740. 
Pym 307 

After a painting by Robert Walker. 
Signature of P}'m . . . . . . . . .310 

Facsimile of a Letter by Cromwell . . . . . -317 

Carisbrooke Castle . . . . . . . . .318 

Trial of Charles I . . " . . . . . . . 319 

From a print in Xalson's Report of the Trial. 

Oliver Cromwell . . . . 325 

Seal of the Commonwealth ........ 330 

The Ship " Xaseby " on which Charles II returned to England . 333 

Cumberland, The Story of the Unio7i Jack. 
The Famous Petition Crown of Charles II 335 

Humphreys, Coi7i Collectors' Manual. 

Louis XIV 339 

Hampton Court from the River in the Time of Charles II 344, 345 

Law, Hampton Court. 
St. John's College, Cambridge ....... 350 

" The Cittie of Limerick " . . 352 

O'Grady, Pacata Hibernia. 



xvi Illustrations 

PAGfi 

Medal struck after the Revolution of William and Mary . . 355 

Knight, A Popular- History of England. 

Great Seal of the Union . 373 

Interior of the Old House of Commons 382 

McCarthy, Life of Gladstone. 

Wesley 386 

George III Facing 390 v/ 

William Pitt, Earl of Chatham 393 

Edmund Burke 396 

Signature of Charles James Fox 401 

Signature of the Younger Pitt 405 

Nelson 425 

After a painting by J. Hoppner. 

Lord John Russell 431 

Victoria . Facing 434 

Robert Peel 436 

After the original painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence. 

John Bright 441 

Disraeli 448 

Charles Stewart Parnell '. . .451 

Salisbury 454 

Labouchere 459 

Gladstone Facing 460 

Joseph Chamberlain 461 

Arkwright's Spinning Machine of 1769 468 

Sir Richard Arkwright 470 

The Rocket » . . . 477 

Smiles, Life of George Stephenson. 

George Stephenson ......... 478 

The Jubilee Medal 494 



AIDS TO THE STUDY OF ENGLISH 

HISTORY 

Useful progressive outline maps are published by D. C. Heath & 
Co., Boston, and by Rand & McNally, Chicago. Photographs illus- 
trating English history can be obtained from the Soule Photograph 
Co., Boston, from whom can be obtained a catalogue and a list of agen- 
cies in other cities, and from Mansell, 405 Oxford Street, London. 

As an assistance to purchasers the titles of works on English history 
are here arranged in " libraries " of twenty-five, fifty, and one hundred 
volumes. 

I. LIBRARY OF TWENTY-FIVE VOLUMES 

Sources. 

Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. (Bohn.) New York, Macmillan. ($1.50.) 
Colby. Selections from the Sources. New York, Longmans. 
(^1.50 net.) 

Atlas. 

Gardiner, S. R. School Atlas of English Hisiory. New York, 
Longmans. ($1.50 net.) Invaluable. 

General Histories. 

Bright, J. F. History of England. 4 vols. New York, Long- 
mans. (^6.75.) Accurate and full, especially on the eigh- 
teenth century. 

Gardiner, S. R. Students' History of England. New York, 
Longmans. ()^3.oo net.) Clear and reliable, with very valu- 
able illustrations. 

Green, J. R. Short History of the English People. New York, 
Harpers. ($1.20.) A series of brilliant and suggestive essays 
rather than an orderly history. 

Special Periods. 

Creighton, M. Age of Elizabeth. (Epochs.) New York, 
Longmans, (^i.oo.) Best short account. 

xvii. 



xviii Aids to the Study of English History 

Freeman, E. A. Old English History. New York, jMacmillan, 
($1.50.) x\ small, useful book. 

Freeman, E. A. Short History of the N'orman Conquest. Ox- 
ford. Clarendon. ($0.60.) By the great authority on this 
period. 

Gardiner, S. R. Puritan Pevotution. (Epochs.) New York, 
Longmans. ($1.00.) An admirable book by the leading 
authority. 

Stubbs, ^V. Early Plantagenets. (Epochs.) New York, Long- 
mans. ($1.00.) Best short book on the period by a great 
historian. 
Biography. 

INIacaulay. Essays and Lays. (Essays on Clive, Chatham, Hamp- 
den, Hastings.) New York, Longmans. ($1.00.) 

Morley, J. Walpole. New York, Macmillan. ($0.75,) 

Oman. Wanuick. New York, Macmillan. ($0.75.) A good 
sketch of the times. 

Smith, G. Three English Statesmen. (Pym, Cromwell, Pitt.) 
New York, ]\Iacmillan. ($1.50.) 
Constitution. 

Montague, F. Elements of English Constitutional History. New 
York, Longmans. ($1.25.) An interesting elementary book. 

Taswell-Langmead. English Constitutional History. Boston, 
Houghton. ($6.00.) Best book covering the whole ground. 
Industry. 

Cunningham and MacArthur. OtUlines of English Industrial 
History. New York, Macmillan. (31.50.) A reliable ele- 
mentary work. 

Taylor, W. C. The Factory System a7id the Factory Acts. New 
York, Scribners. (Si. 00.) 

Colonies. 

Cotton and Payne. English Colonies and Dependencies. (Citi- 
zen's Series.) New York, ]Macmillan. (Si. 00.) 
Payne. History of European Colonies. New York, Macmillan. 
($1.10.) A short general history of the subject. 
Architecture. 

Parker, J. Introduction to the Study of Gothic Architecture. 

New York, Scribners, ($2.00.) Best small book. 
This selection can probably be purchased if ordered from any firm 
of general booksellers for something less than the list prices, probably 
for about Sw.oo. 



Aids to the Study of EnglisJi History xix 



II. LIBRARY OF FIFTY VOLUMES 

THE BOOKS ALREADY MENTIONED AND THE 
FOLLOWING WORKS 
Sources. 

Adams, C. K. Representative B^'itish Orations. 3 vols. New 
York, Putnams. (33- 75-) A useful collection, covering the 
ground from Sir John Eliot to the present time. 

Gardiner, S. R. Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revo- 
lution. Oxford, Clarendon. ($2.25 net.) 

Prothero. Statutes and Constitutional Documents. (Elizabeth 
and James I.) Oxford, Clarendon. ($2.60 net.) 

General. 

ACLAND and Ransome. English Political History. London, Riv- 
ingtons. ($2.00.) A useful handbook in outline, with valuable 
summaries. 

Green, J. R. A Short History of the English People. 4 vols. 
New York, Harpers. ($5.00 per vol.)' Superbly illustrated. 

Earned, J. N. History for Ready Reference. 5 vols. Spring- 
field, Mass.,- Nichols. ($5.00 per vol.) A useful dictionary of 
general history. 

Special Periods. 

Moberly. The Early Tudor s. New York, Longmans. ($1.00.) 
Trevelyan, G. M. 7//^ Age of Wycliffe. New York, Longmans. 
(^4.00.) An interesting and careful study of the period. 

Biography. 

Green, A. S. Hemy the Second. New York, Macmillan. ($0.75.) 

Interesting and valuable. 
HUTTON, W. Sir Thomas More. London, Methuen. (5^-.) A 

good view of the Renaissance in England. 

Industry. 

Traill. Social England. Vols. I-III. New York, Putnams. 
($3.50 per vol.) Unequal in value, but contains useful infor- 
mation not easily accessible. 

Colonies. 

Egerton, H. Short History of British Colonial Policy. London, 
Methuen. (i2J'. 6^.) Best short history of the subject. 

Seeley, J. Expansion of England. Boston, Little, Brown & Co. 
(^1.75.) Interesting and suggestive. 



XX Aids to the Study of Ejiglish History 

Architecture. 

Van Rensselaer, M. English Cathedrals. New York, The Cen- 
tury Co. (^6.00.) Finely illustrated. See articles in Century 
Magazine. 

The number of expensive sets included would bring the cost of this 
" Library " up to ^50.00, even with liberal discounts, in addition to the 
cost of those already named. 



III. LIBRARY OF ONE HUNDRED VOLUMES 

THE BOOKS ALREADY MENTIONED AND THE 
FOLLOWING WORKS 
Sources. 

Clarendon. Characters and Episodes of the Great Rebellion. 

Selections from Clarendon's History. Edited by G. Boyle. 

Oxford, Clarendon. (^2.00.) 
Cromwell. Letters and Speeches. Edited by Carlyle. London, 

Routledge. (^1.50.) 
The Boy's Froissart. Edited by Lanier. New York, Scribners. 

(I2.00.) 
Modern Political Oratioits. Edited by Wagner. London. Fisher 

Unwin. (^1.50.) 

General History. 

Green, J. R. History of the English People. 4 vols. New York, 
Macmillan. (^6.50 each.) Similar in character to Green's 
Short History, but much fuller in treatment. 

Special Periods or Subjects. V 

Besant, W. Londoji. New York, Longmans. (^0.75,) Illus- 
trated. See articles in Harper'' s Monthly. 

Gardiner. History of the Great Civil War. 4 vols. New York. 
Longmans. ($8.00.) Invaluable on the period. 

Johnson. Norjnans in Europe. New York, Longmans. (|Si.oo.) 

McCarthy. History of Our Own Times. 2 vols. Harpers. 
(^2.50.) Entertaining, but gossipy. 

Mackintosh. Scotland. (Nations.) New York, Putnams. (^1.50.) 

Lecky. History of England in the Eighteenth Century. 7 vols. 
New York, Appleton. (^i.oo per vol.) Very valuable. 

Lecky. History of Ireland. (Through 1800.) 5 vols. New York, 
Appleton. (^i.oo per vol.) An authority. 



Aids to the Study of English History xxi 

Biography. 

Creighton. Simon de Montfort. New York, Longmans, (^i.oo.) 
Gardiner, S. R. CromwelPs Place in History. New York, Long- 
mans. ($i.oo.) A very valuable study of Cromwell. 
Hume, M. Sir Walter -Ralegh. New York, Longmans. (^1.50.) 

Interesting, and by an authority. 
Maxwell, H. Robert the Bruce. (Heroes of Nations.) New 

York, Putnams. ($1.50.) 
MORLEY, J. Life of Cobden. 2 vols. New York, Macmillan. 

($1.50 per vol.) A very valuable study of the man and the 

time, by a leading English statesman. 
Paull Life of Alfred. (Bohn.) New York, Macmillan. (^1.50.) 
Russell, G. W. Gladstone. (Queen's Prime Ministers.) New 

York, Harpers, (^i.oo.) Best short life of Gladstone. See 

Morley's Gladstone (in preparation). 
Traill. William LIL. New York, Macmillan. (^0.75.) 

Constitution. 

Bagehot. The English Constitution. New York, Appleton. 

(^2.00.) A suggestive study of the present English Constitution. 

FoNBLANQUE. LLowwe are Governed. New York, Warne. (^0.75.) 

Industry. 

Creighton. Social Llistory of England. New York, Longmans. 

(^0.60.) 

Cunningham, W. Growth of English Lndustry and Commerce. 
2 vols. New York, Macmillan. {Early and Middle Ages, 
^4.00. Modern Times, ^4-50-) The leading authority. 

GiBBiNS. Industrial History of England. New York, Scribners. 
(^1.20.) Interesting and successful. 

TOYNBEE, Arnold. The Industrial Revolution. New York, Long- 
mans. ($3.50.) A very suggestive account. 

Colonies. 

Jenks. History of the Australasian Colonies, New York, Macmil- 
lan. (^1.60.) 

Lucas. Historical Geography of the British Colonies. Introduction. 
Oxford, Clarendon, (^i.oo.) Very useful. 

Lyall, a. Rise of the British Dominion in India. New York, 
Scribners. ($1.50.) 

Mahan. Influence of Sea Power upon History. Boston, Little, 
Brown & Co. (^4-00.) Very suggestive. 

Roberts, C. History of Canada. Boston, Lamson. (^2.00.) 
The additional cost for this "Library" will be from ^50.00 to ^60.00. 



SOURCES EASILY ACCESSIBLE 



Adams, C. K. Representative British Orations. 3 vols. New York, 
Putnams. (^3.75.) 

A Discourse of the Common Weal of this Realm of England. (Tudor.) 
New York, Macmillan. (^1.40.) 

Arber. English Reprints. Ascham, The Schoolmaster ; Latimer, 
Sermons; More, Utopia; Raleigh, The Last Fight of the Revenge. 
New York, Macmillan. (^0.35 each.) 

Bede. See Chronicles. 

Bright, John, Cobden, R. Speeches on Questions of Public Policy. 
New York, Macmillan. ($1.25 net each.) 

Burnet. History of My Own Times. Vol. I. Oxford, Clarendon 
Press. ($3.25 net.) 

C^SAR. Commentaries. (Bohn.) New York, Macmillan. (^i.oo.) 

Cassell's National Library. Ascham, The Schoolmaster ; Bolinbroke, 
Lord, Letters, etc.; Hakluyt, Voyagers'' L^ales, The Northwest 
Passages; Herbert of Cherbury, Life; More, Utopia; Raleigh, 
The Discovery of Gtiiana. New York, Cassell, (^o.io.) 

Cavendish. Cardinal Wolsey. London, Routledge. (^0.40 net.) 

Chronicles. Bede's Ecclesiastical Histoiy and the Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle, (i vol.) Chronicles of the Abbey of Croyland. Flor- 
ence of Worcester. Henry of Huntingdon. Matthew Paris. 
(3 vols.) Matthew of Westminster. (2 vols.) Roger de Hove- 
den. (2 vols.) Six Old English Chronicles, Ethelword, 
Asset's Life of Alfred, Gildas, Nennius, Geoffrey of Monmouth, 
Richard of Cirencester. (i vol.) William of Malmesbury. 
(Bohn.) New York, Macmillan. (^1.50 per vol.) 

Chronicle of King LLenry VLLL. (Bohn.) New York, Macmillan. 
($0.50 net.) 

Clarendon. Characters aiid Episodes of the Great Rebellion. (Boyle.) 
Oxford, Clarendon Press. ($2.00 net.) 

Colby, C. W. Selections from the Sources of English Llistory. New 
York, Longmans. ($1.50 net.) 

Cromwell, Oliver. Letters and Speeches. London, Routledge. ($1.50.) 

Defoe, D. Journal of the Plague. London, Routledge. ($0.40.) 

xxii 



Sources Easily Accessible xxiii 

Elizabethan and Jacobean Pamphlets. Edited by Saintsbury. New 
York, Macmillan. (^i.oo.) 

English History from Contemporary Writers. Out of print but can 
be consulted in any large library. 

Evelyn. Diary and Correspondence. 4 vols. (Bohn.) New York, 
Macmillan. (^1.50 per vol.) 

Froissart. The Boy's Froissart. New York, Scribners. ($2.00.) 

Gardiner, S. R. Documents of the Puritan Revolution. Oxford;, 
Clarendon Press. (^2.25 net.) 

Gee and Hardy. Documents Illustrative of English Church His- 
tory. New York, Macmillan. (^2.60 net.) 

Harrison. England. (Elizabethan.) New York, Lovell. (^0.40.) 

Hart and Channing. Americaji History Leaflets. New York, A. 
Lovell & Co. ($0.10 each.) 

Henderson, Ernest. Select Historical Documents. (Bohn.) New 
York, Macmillan. ($1.50.) 

Hutchinson. Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson. (Bohn.) New 
York, Macmillan. ($1.00.) 

Indiana, University of. Extracts from the Sources. Bloomington. 
($0.05 each.) 

Ireland under Elizabeth and James. Extracts from Spenser, Davies, 
etc. London, Routledge. (|ii.oo.) 

Modern Political Orations. (19th Century.) Edited by L. Wagner. 
London, Fisher Unwin. (^1.50.) 

Old South Leaflets. Directors of the Old South work. ($0.05 each.) 

Paston Letters. (15th Century.) 3vols. New York, Macmillan. (^6.00.) 

Pennsylvania, University of. Translations and Repririts. Depart- 
ment of History. ($0.10 to ^0.25 each.) 

Pepys. Diary and Correspondence. 4 vols. (Bohn.) New York, 
Macmillan. (I1.50 per vol.) 

Political Orations. Wentworth (Peter) to Macaulay. (Camelot 
Series.) London, Scott ; New York, Lovell. (^0.40.) 

Political Pamphlets. Edited by Pollard. New York, Holt. ($1.75-) 

Political Pamphlets. ■ (Late Stuart and Early Hanoverian.) Edited 
by Saintsbury. New York, Macmillan. (^i.oo.) 

Prothero. Statutes and Constitutional Documents. (Elizabeth and 
James I.) Oxford, Clarendon Press. ($2.60 net.) 

Roper. Life of More. Also More's Utopia and Edward V. (Came- 
lot Series.) London, Scott; New York, Lovell. (^0.40-) 

Stubbs, W. Select Charters. Oxford, Clarendon Press. ($2.25 net.) 

Tacitus. Agricola and Germany. (Church and Brodribb.) New 
York, Macmillan. (#1.25 net.) 



SPECIAL TOPICS 



When possible, reference should be made to the Encyclopedia Britan- 
nica and to the Dictionary of National Biography. (Macmillan, 
^3.75 net per volume; to be complete in about sixty volumes.) 

CHAPTER I 

Natural defences of England. The best maps which are available. 
Natural causes for London's continued importance. As above. 

CHAPTER II 

The Legends of King Arthur. Bulfinch, Age of Chivalry (Hale), 
chs. I-III. Church, Alfred, Heroes of Chivalry, 63-211. Lanier, 
The Bofs King Arthur, Bks. I, VI. 

The Conversion of North umbria. Green, History of the English People, 
I, 45-59 (Macmillan, ^6.50). Freeman, Old English History, 
51-59. Milman, Latin Christianity, II, chs. Ill, IV. Transla- 
tions and Reprints, Vol. I, No. 7 (University of Pennsylvania). 
Kingsley, C, The Hermits, 282-299. 

CHAPTER III 

Harold. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Bohn). Green, History of the Eng- 
lish People, I, 106, 111-114. Freeman, Old English History, 
256-336. Tennyson, Harold. Lytton, Harold. 

Influence of the Norman Conquest on the Speech of England. Web- 
ster, International Dictionary, xxxii, xxxiii. Freeman, Norman 
Cojiquest, V, 506-575. Lounsbury, English Language, 42-55. 

CHAPTER IV 

The Judicial System of Henry 11, Taswell-Langmead, English Con^ 
stitutiojial History, 153-172. Green, A. S., Henry the Second, 
chs. IV, VI. Henderson, E., Select Historical Documents, 16-20. 

The Court of Henry II. Green, A. S., Henry the Second, ch- X. 
Stubbs, W., Seventeen Lectures. 

xxiv 



special Topics xxv 



CHAPTER V 

Canterbury Cathedral. Traill, I, 196, 323-325. Parker, Introduction 
to the Study of Gothic Architecture, 83-93. Van Rensselaer, 
English Cathedrals, ch. II, or Century, April, 1 887. 

Life on a Manor. Cunningham and MacArthur, 28-40. Gibbins, 
Industrial History of Englajid, 1 1-22. Andrews, The Old Eng- 
lish Manor, chs. IV- VI (Johns Hopkins Press), Translations 
and Reprints, Vol, III, No. 5 (University of Pennsylvania). 

CHAPTER VI 

Robert Bruce. Green, History of the English People, I, 369, 380, 386, 
395. Mackintosh, Scotland, 360-373 (Nations). Maxwell, H., 
Robert the Bruce (Heroes of Nations). Froissart, ch. X. 

Battle of Crecy. Green, History of the English People, I, 416-422. 
Traill, II, 172-181. Warburton, Edzvard the Third, 100-II2 
(Epoch Series). Froissart, chs. LIII-LVII. Oma.n, Art of War 
in the Middle Ages, 591-615 (Putnam's). 

CHAPTER VII 

Joan of Arc. Oliphant'syi?^??;^^ d^Arc (Heroes of Nations). Clements, 
S. (Mark Twain), Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc. Cather- 
wood. Days of Jeanne d'Arc. 

Warwick, the King-maker. Oman, Warwick. The Wars of York and 
La?icaster, 60-66, 96-114 (English History from Contemporary 
Writers). GdiVcdn&x, Houses of Lancaster and York. See Index 
under Warwick (Epochs) . Lytton, Last of the Barons. 

CHAPTER VIII 

Sir Thomas More. Green, History of the English People, II, 97-105, 
148, 154, 167-170. Froude, History of England, II, 359-379. 
Hutton, W., Life of Sir Thomas Alore. Roper, Life of More. 

The Jesuits. Payne, Histoiy of European Colonies, ch. VI. Symonds, 
J., Catholic Reaction (^Italian Renaissance'), I, 246-298. Ency- 
clopcedia Britannica, under Jesuit. Parkman, The Jesuits in 
North America in the Seventeenth Century, Pioneers of France in 
the New World. 

Sir Philip Sidney. Green, History of the English People, II, 457, 461. 
Fox-Bourne, Life of Sir Philip Sidney (Heroes of Nations). 



xxvi Special Topics 



CHAPTER IX 

Education in the Sixteenth Century. Froude, History of England, I, 
53-55. Green, History of the English People, II, 85, 286. Traill, 
III, 85-98, 228-230. Harrison, England, ch. XXV. Aschara, 
The Schoolmaster, account of Lady Jane Grey (Arber Reprint). 

Sir Francis Drake. Corbett, Drake. Froude, English Seamen in the 
Sixteenth Century, 68, 105-140, 174-200, 224-237. Raleigh, Z^^-/ 
Fight of the Revenge (Arber Reprint). Barnes, Drake and his 
Yeomen (Macmillan) . 

CHAPTER X 

Attack on the Five Members. Green, History of the English People, 
III, 212-214. Gardiner, S. 'K., History of England, 1603-1642, 
X, 1 28-1 5 1 (Longmans, ^20.00). Clarendon, Characters and Epi- 
sodes of the Great Rebellion, 88-94. 

The Agreement of the People and the . Constitution of the United 
States. Gardiner, S. R., History of the Great Civil War, III, 
ch. LV. Text of Agreement, Gardiner, III. Appendix. In 
final form, Gardiner, Constitutional Documents, p. 270; Old South 
Leaflets, No. 26. United States Constitution, Old South Leaflets, 
No. I. 

Montrose. Gardiner, History of the Great Civil War. See Index 
under Montrose. Morris, M., Montrose. Clarendon, Characters 
and Episodes, 78, 79, 236-241. Scott, The Legend of Montrose. 

CHAPTER XI 

Dryden and the Whigs. Green, History of the English People, III, 
442-448. Traill, IV, 430-432, 436. Dryden, 'Absalom ajid 
Achitophel. 

Trial of the Seven Bishops. Macaulay, History of England, II, ch. 
VIII. Hale, Fall of the Stuarts, 1 19-122 (Epoch Series). 

CHAPTER XII 

Political Corruption in the Eighteenth Century. May, Constitutional 
History of England, I, 333-390 (Longmans). Lecky, History of 
England in the Eighteenth Century, II, 45-63 ; III, 367-371 
(Cabinet ed.). Trevelyan, American Revolution, 210-227. 
Walpole, S., Electorate and Legislature, 78-85 (Citizen Series, 
Maciriillan) . Mulock, John Halifax, 276-286, 



special Topics xxvii 

Power of the Press. Traill, IV, 322, 383, 597 ; V, 351-353. Lecky, 
II, 50 ; III, 441-489. Macaulay, History of England. See 
Index under Newspapers and Press. 

Charles James Fox. Lecky, IV, 253-261. Wakeman, Fox. Adams, 
Representative British Orations, III. Bright, III. See Index. 

CHAPTER XIII 

Chatham. Macaulay, Essays on Chatham, Lecky, I, 381-404. 

Adams, Representative British Orations, I. Political Orations 

(Camelot Series). 
The East India Company. Payne, History of European Colonies, 57, 

61, 140, 144. Gibbins, British Commerce and Colonies, 8, 9, 65- 

79. Lecky, IV, 262-286; V, 227-239. McCarthy, History of 

Our Own Times, ch. XXXVI. 

CHAPTER XIV 

Battle of Trafalgar. Bright, III, 1265. ^^x%%€i\.,d^x\i, Pictures from 
the Life of Nelson, ch. XI. Mahan, The Life of Nelson, II, chs. 
XXII, XXIII. 

Daniel O'Connell. Bright, III and IV. See Index under O'Con- 
nell. McCarthy, History of Our Oivn Times, ch. XII. Lawless, 
Ireland, ch. LV (Nations). Nineteenth Century Review, January, 
1889. Article by Gladstone. Wagner, Modern Political Ora- 
tions. 

The Queen in the Constitution. Taswell-Langmead, English Consti- 
tutional History, 703-711. May, Constitutional History, I, 154- 
166. Fonblanque, Hozu We are Governed, Letter II. Pagehot, 
The English Constitution, ch. Ill (Appleton). 

CHAPTER XV 

Child Labor and Lord Shaftesbury. Taylor, W. C, The Factory System 
and the Factory Acts, 35-49, 1 23-1 25. Gibbins, Industrial History 
of England, 178-186. Walpole, ^., History of England, III, 199- 
208. Browning, Elizabeth, The Cry of the Children. 

Repeal of the Corn Laws. Bright, IV. See Index under Corn Laws. 
McCarthy, History of Our Own Times, chs. XIV, XV. Mor- 
ley, J., Life of Cobden, chs. VI-X, XVI. Adams, Representative 
British Orations, III. Bright, Cobden, Speeches on Questions of 
Public Policy. 



xxviii Special Topics 



CHAPTER XVI 

Government of Canada. Payne, History of European Colonies., ch. 
XI. McCarthy, History of Our Own Times, chs. Ill, LV. 
. Roberts, A History of Canada, chs. XVIII-XXII (Boston, Lam- 
son). Bourinot, Canada, chs. XXII, XXIV, XXV (Nations). 

Imperial Federation. Parkin, G. R., Imperial Federation (Macmillan). 
Smith, Goldwin, Essays on Questions of the Day (Macmillan). 
Contemporary Review, January and April, 1870. Century, 15: 
187. North American Review, 157 : 485. Nineteenth Century 
Review, 30 : 480, 490, 509. 



CHAPTER I 

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BRITISH ISLES 
Books for Consultation 

Strabo, Geography, Bk. IV, ch. V. 

Gildas's Works, Pt. III. 

Alfred's description of Britain, Introduction to Orosius, 

Green, Short Geography of the British Isles. 

Cunningham, Outlines of English Industrial History, ch. II. 

Ramsay, Physical Geology and Geography of Great Britain. 

The British Isles. — The home of the EngUsh people 
is a group of islands, some five thousand in number, lying 
off the west coast of Europe. They look on the map like 
icebergs floating away from a huge old glacier. Most of 
them are mere ledges of rock, lifting a few acres of grass- 
land beyond reach of the waves. Some are so bare that 
they only serve as haunts for sea-birds, many are pictur- 
esque and romantic,^ but Great Britain and Ireland alone 
are of sufficient size to play any considerable part in the 
national history. The area of the British Isles is one hun- 
dred and twenty thousand square miles, about -^\^ part of 
the land surface of the globe. In extent they are somewhat 
larger than New England, somewhat less than Japan. This 
seems too small a country to exercise a great influence in 
the world, yet the English government controls to-day nearly 
one-fourth of the earth's area. The population of the Brit- 
ish Empire is ten times that of the British Isles. Nine- 
teenth-century Englishmen boast, and with good reason, 
that the sun never sets on her Majesty's dominions. How 

1 Staffa and lona, Holy Isle, and the Isle of Wight have furnished refuge 
to persecuted saints and kings. 

B I 



2 Physical CJiaracteristics of the British Isles 

can we account for this extraordinary national development? 
Much is doubtless due to certain inherent qualities in the 
English people, but much is the result of environment. We 
must ascertain, first of all, what in the physical make-up of 
the British Isles has contributed to the success of the Eng- 
lish race. 

Relation to Europe. — The most apparent fact regarding 
these islands is that they lie within easy reach of Europe. 
The intervening body of water is nowhere of great depth, 
— three hundred feet in the Enghsh Channel and seventy 
feet in the North Sea, while at the Straits of Dover the 
crossing is but twenty miles. The British Isles, geologists 
tell us, were originally part of the Continent. What is now 
the bed of the North Sea was once low-lying plain, over 
which animals now extinct and prehistoric men made their 
way. At no time has communication been impossible, but 
it is always attended by hazard. The rudest boat can cross 
the Channel in calm weather without harm, but these are 
tempestuous seas, and such storms may rise as put a man- 
of-war in peril. Several times in English history this " ocean 
wall" has been an effective defence against attack. The 
great Spanish Armada was dashed in pieces on the Irish 
coast, and the all-conquering Napoleon failed to effect an 
invasion of England. In the early centuries of its history, 
Britain was frequently overrun and subjugated by continental 
peoples, but the Norman conquerors may be, said to have 
announced England's Monroe doctrine in the eleventh cen- 
tury. Thenceforward the British Isles were not open to 
colonization. 

Accessible from the Continent, yet easily independent of 
it, the English have enjoyed the rare privilege of a free 
and natural race development. Unhampered by foreign 
interference, they have dealt with the several problems of 
pohtical, social, and religious hfe under conditions com- 
paratively simple, and have arrived at results which, though 
not perhaps ideal or of universal application, are at least 
admirably suited to the national character. On the other 



Commercial Advantages 3 

hand, this isolation has not been such as to prevent Eng- 
land from sharing in every vital impulse that has stirred 
the Continent. The Crusades, the Renaissance, the Ref- 
ormation, the French Revolution, each in turn has deeply 
influenced EngUsh hfe and roused the Enghsh race to 
nobler achievement. 

Commercial Advantages. — A no less important conse- 
quence of its insularity is the maritime greatness of the 
English nation. An island people takes naturally to ships, 
since they must venture across the sea in search of all that 
their narrow land does not provide. Great Britain is pecul- 
iarly fitted to foster a race of mariners. Her firths, estu- 
aries, and river mouths form natural harbors, and her 
commercial opportunities are great. On the east coast, 
facing France, Flanders, and Holland, is a series of sea- 
ports in direct communication with these rich and populous 
regions of the Continent. The western harbors, formed by 
the Clyde, the Mersey, and the Severn, look toward Ireland 
and America. During the Middle Ages, Venice was the 
business centre of the Occident, and London but a re- 
mote trading post lying near the edge of the world ; but the Discovery of 
discovery of America has opened up mdustnal resources 
hitherto undreamed of and revolutionized commerce. Lon- 
don proves to be at the centre of the land surface of the 
globe and England lies in the direct highway of modern 

trade. ^ 

Britain's commercial advantages are rendered more valu- 
able by her unusual facilities for internal communication. No 

j part of the country is more than one hundred miles from 

the coast, while waterways, natural and artificial, give access 

I to the remotest regions. England boasts six navigable rivers, 

the Tyne, the Yorkshire Ouse, the Trent, the Mersey, the 
Thames, and the Severn. These reach far into the heart of 
the land. Toward the close of the eighteenth century cross- 
country navigation was provided by a system of canals. Ships 
may pass across Scotland from the North to the Irish Sea 
by the Forth and Clyde Canal, while Ireland's principal 



Stream. 



4 Physical Characteristics of the British Isles 

river, the Shannon, is navigable nearly to its source and 
is connected by artificial channels with the principal ports. 
To-day the railroad has almost superseded water traffic, but 
the rivers of Britain, the " roads that run," have served an 
important part in promoting her commercial greatness. 

Physical Endowment. — This wave-washed realm is blessed 
by a most fortunate chmate. An island climate is usually 
moist and equable, but the British Isles are peculiarly favored 
in that they lie directly in the path of the Gulf Stream. 
The Gulf The great ocean current is a veritable godsend to Britain. 
Bearing upon its bosom the atmosphere of a subtropical 
sea, it. beats against the western coasts, bringing to a country 
of the latitude of Labrador the climate of Virginia. Dublin 
has the mean temperature of Savannah, though two thousand 
miles farther from the equator. The Gulf Stream, more- 
over, brings to this lucky land not merely heat, but moisture. 
The warm west winds break on the mountainous coasts of 
Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, and discharge abundant sup- 
plies of rain. In Galway the average annual rainfall amounts 
to seven feet. The rainfall of England is, however, not half 
so heavy. The influence of a warm, moist climate not only 
upon the occupations but upon the habit and thought of 
the people, can hardly be overestimated. The humidity 
insures the farmer against drought, while in the textile in- 
dustries, notably in cotton spinning, it gives the manu- 
facturer a distinct advantage. The winters are rarely so 
severe as to interfere with field-work or transportation, while 
the wholesome, bracing air stimulates to exertion. 

Industrial Wealth. — In natural resources the English 
race is well endowed. The mineral deposits of the British 
Isles are rich and of great variety, and so placed as to 
be readily accessible. Long before the English came to 
Britain, tin, lead, copper, and possibly gold were extracted 
in some rude fashion from the rocks of Cornwall, Wales, 
and the Mendip Hills. In the last century rich deposits of 
coal and iron, lead and zinc, were opened up and have 
been worked with such success that Britain is now one of the 



Political Divisions correspond to Industrial 5 



most productive mining countries in the world. Rarely 
does a country combine such mineral wealth with so fertile 
a soil as that of the British Isles. Wales and Scodand, to 
be sure, can boast only a scanty agricultural opportunity, but 
there are nowhere more fruitful regions than the pasture 
lands of Ireland and the gardens and wheat fields of eastern 
and southern England. Throughout the Middle Ages the 
soil of Britain fed her own people, and furnished consider- 
able quantities of grain, cattle, and wool to foreign lands. 
To-day, however, her population^ has outstripped the food- 
bearing capacity of her fields, and Britain is obliged to look 
to Australia and America for supplies. 

Nineteenth-century Britain is the richest country in the Old 
World. Her present wealth is estimated at ^49,000,000,000, 
or about ^1235 for every man, woman, and child in the 
United Kingdom. The wealth of the United States is reck- 
oned at ^65,000,000,000, but our average per capita wealth 
is less, $1039 in 1890. The wealth-producing facilities of 
Britain enable her to support a dense population. Saxony 
and Belgium alone of European countries are more thickly 
inhabited. This surpassing prosperity has a double source. 
It would be difficult to say which of two cooperating causes 
has been more influential — Britain's exceptional advantages 
of situation, soil and mineral wealth, or the pronounced in- 
dustrial genius of her people. 

Political Divisions correspond to Industrial. — The four 
political divisions of the United Kingdom were originally 
independent, and though they have been under one govern- 

^ POPULATION OF ENG- INHABITANTS 



LAND AND WALES 



1066 
I381 
1528 
1672 
I7I2 

1754 
1780 
1801 
1811 



2,150,000 
2,360,000 
4,356,000 
5,500,000 
6,280,000 
7,020,000 
8,080,000 
8,893,000 
10,164,000 



PER SQ. M. 
37 

75 

96 

no 
120 
140 
155 
175 



POPULATION OF ENG- 


INHABITANTS 


LAND 


AND WALES 


PER SQ. M. 


I82I 


12,090,000 


207 


I83I 


14,001,000 


241 


I84I 


16,038,000 


275 


I85I 


18,071,000 


310 


1861 


20,209,000 


347 


187I 


22,857,000 


391 


I88I 


26,109,000 


443 


I89I 


29,001,000 


500 



6 Physical Characteristics of the British Isles 

ment for centuries, each still preserves a marked individual- 
ity. We can account for this dissimilarity in some measure 
by race inheritance, since the English are Teutons by origin, 
while the Irish, Welsh, and Scots are Celts ; but even more 
is due to the modifying influence of physical conditions. 
Ireland, Whales, and Scotland have been shabbily dealt with 
by Dame Nature, while England has fallen heir to her 
richest bounties. For example, England has the advantage 
of situation as regards Europe. The mountains of Great 
Britain are piled up in the north and west. Scotland, West- 
moreland, Wales, and Cornwall are bleak masses of rock 
and moor. From these barren heights the rich plains of 
England slope eastward to the Channel and the North Sea. 
Her water-courses cross the country from west to east, form- 
ing natural highways for commerce. Four of her rivers, the 
Tyne, the Tees, the Trent, and the Thames, give direct 
access to the Channel trade. Their harbors stand like so 
many open doors, inviting the products, the men, the ideas, 
of Europe. England may be said to turn, her back on 
Ireland and to face the Continent. She is indeed the 
favored sister. The west winds come to her with warmth 
and moisture, but not till excess of rain has been precipi- 
tated on the rugged heights of the Welsh mountains: The 
Channel fogs, it is true, invade the low districts of the eastern 
coast, but they have this virtue, at least, that they moderate 
the temperature both summer and winter. 

England. — Industrially, England is divided into two dis- 
tinct parts. A line drawn from the estuary of the Humber 
to the mouth of the Severn would approximately represent 
the division. Southeast of the line lies agricultural England. 
The rich lime soil and the gentle rivers of this region make 
it one of the most productive in the world. No more fertile 
fields gladden the heart of man than those of the Fen country 
and the Thames valley, while the Chiltern Hills, the North 
and South Downs, and the Cotswold Hills nourish famous 
breeds of sheep. Northwest of our imaginary line is the 
mineral wealth of England. Here lie the great coal fields 



Wales 'J 

of Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Derby, Stafford, 
Leicester, Warwick, and Lancashire. They are 1650 square 
miles in extent, and constitute the mainspring of England's 
manufacturing industries. In the midst of this immense coal 
area rises the Pennine chain, a range of mountain and moor- 
land which thrusts itself like a great wedge two hundred miles 
into the heart of England. It is an axis of carboniferous 
rock, and along its barren slopes lie rich mineral deposits, 
iron, zinc, and lead. This remarkable combination of fuel 
with mineral resources has attracted to the region the capi- 
tal and labor force of England. Here are the populous min- 
ing districts. Here lie the great manufacturing towns of 
Leeds, Nottingham, Sheffield, Birmingham, and Manchester. 
The centres of wealth and population were originally in the 
agriculture regions of the south, but the opening of the coal 
measures has reversed conditions, and the densely populated 
counties lie to-day north of the Trent.^ 

The Pennine district affords, however, but a fraction of 
the mineral wealth of England. The rocky promontory of 
Cornwall bears rich veins of copper, lead, and tin, and sup- 
ports a large mining population. Many lesser resources have 
contributed their quota to England's prosperity. In Cheshire, 
along the valley of the Weaver, lie large deposits of salt. They 
have been known for eighteen hundred years, but have only 
in modern times been extensively worked. In addition to its 
coal measures, Staffordshire boasts a fine clay soil admirably 
adapted to the manufacture of earthenware. Here Wedg- 
wood and many lesser craftsmen have practised the potters' 
art. The remarkable success of the industry has won for 
this district the name of " the Potteries." 

Wales. — If now we turn from merry England to the little 
principality of Wales, we find a marked contrast. It is a 
rugged, mountainous country, picturesque and romantic 

1 Compare the density of population in an agricultural county {e.g. Bed- 
ford, 348 to the square mile) with that of a mining county {e.g. Durham, 1004 
to the square mile) or with that of a manufacturing county {e.g. Lancashire, 
1829 to the square mile). 



8 Physical Characteristics of the British Isles 

enough, beloved of the tourist, but scantily endowed with 
industrial resources. The massive range of peaks from 
Snowdon to Brecknock Beacon is usually enveloped in mist 
and rain, and affords meagre opportunity for pasture or 
tillage.^ A circumscribed agricultural district lies along the 
north coast in the valleys of the Conway and the Clyde, but 
the best industrial opportunity of Wales is in the slate quar- 
ries of the Cambrian range and the coal mines of the south. 
The coal fields of Wales are nearly equal in extent to those 
of England. That of the Black Mountains is nine hundred 
square miles in area and ten thousand feet in depth. This 
has become the centre of the smelting industry. A dense 
population is gathered in a series of smoky towns, Swansea, 
Cardiff, Merthyr-Tydfil, and Aberdare. From Cornwall, from 
France, from North and South America, from Austraha, large 
quantities of metal are brought to the foundries of South 
Wales. But this prosperity is offset by the poverty of vast 
mountain wastes. Wales as a whole supports but a sparse 
population. Her area is one-seventh that of England while 
her population is but one-eighteenth as large. 

Scotland. — In physical make-up Scotland is quite com- 
parable to Wales. It looks but a jagged mass of rock from 
which broken bits, the Shetlands, the Orkneys, the Hebrides, 
Skye, Mull, Arran, are crumbling off into the sea. The 
country is divided into three districts distinguished from 
one another by marked physical features. Fir^t of these 
is the picturesque northern section, the Highlands, the land 
of shootings and salmon rivers. It contains two-thirds of 
Scotland's territory, but little of her material wealth. Fish- 
ing and sheep-raising are the principal employments. The 
Lowland Plain is a long narrow valley, which may once have 
been an isthmus, running across the country from east to 
west, from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde. This 
region contains the mineral wealth of Scotland. Here are 
rich deposits of coal and iron which sustain flourishing 

1 Agricultural land amounts to ']'] % of the total area in England, 60% in 
Wales, 25 % in Scotland, 72% in Ireland. 



INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES OF 

EXGLAKD 

■SCALE OF ENGLISH MILES 
5 10 20 30 00 



EXPLANATION 


rofli 


1 


RIqt.P 


1 


Iron 




Onid 1 1 


Coppfti- 1 1 


Tin 


I^H 


Lead .^W^ 


Fens. . , , 1 1 


Forest 


t 1 



Arable land- 




4 West 3 Longitude 2 from 1 Greenwich East 1 



BORMAY & CO.,ENSR'S,N.r. 



Ireland 9 

manufactures. Here, too, are Scotland's harbors and, hence, 
her commercial opportunity. The population of this favored 
region is more than half that of all Scotland. The third 
division is that of the Lowland Hills, Scotland's natural 
barrier against invasion from England, the " border " of the 
ballads and historical romance. These are monotonous 
moorlands. They lack the picturesque beauty of the High- 
lands and the mineral wealth of the Plain, and are good for 
Httle but sheep pasture. The Tweed valley is a more pros- 
perous region ; verging on the coal districts of England, it 
shares their prosperity. 

Ireland. — Of the physical sources of national well-being, 
Ireland has but a niggardly portion. The island is shaped 
like a saucer. Along the coasts, north, west, and south, runs 
a ring of low mountain ranges. In the east alone are there 
considerable stretches of sandy shore, and even here, the 
coast line is broken by two mountain masses, the Mourne 
and the Wicklow hills. The interior is an undulating plain 
with hardly sufficient slope to afford watershed to the slug- 
gish rivers.^ The soil has a Hmestone foundation, and is as 
fertile as that of England, but it is too wet for successful 
agriculture and is given over, in great part, to cattle pas- 
ture. Numerous lakes and tracts of bog-land lie across the 
heart of the country and reduce its tillable area. Ireland 
gets the first effect of the warm winds from the Atlantic, and 
the rainfall is excessive. The number of rainy days in the 
year averages two hundred and eight. The climate is in 
consequence warm, damp, and debilitating. Moreover, the 
mineral resources of the country are scant. The immense 
coal measures that originally covered its surface were carried 
away ages ago by glacial action. Isolated fragments of the 
once abundant store are found in the hills, but the output of 
the mines is quite inadequate to the industrial needs of the 
country. Ireland possesses rich deposits of iron, but they 
cannot be worked to advantage because fuel is lacking. The 

1 The surface of Ireland is 72% arable land, 12% bog and marsh, 11% 
barren mountain, 4 % water, i % forest. 



lO PJiysical Characteristics of the British Isles 

mountains contain other minerals, copper, gold, silver, and 
lead, and these have been mined at different epochs in Irish 
history; but the ores are nowhere so rich as those of the 
Pennine and Cornish districts, and the mining industries are 
to-day actually declining. 

The fates seem to have conspired against Ireland. Her 
rivers rarely afford water power sufficient for manufactures. 
Her natural harbors He to the west and north, where they are 
of little use. One first-rate harbor lies on the south coast 
and has become important since the steamship hnes running 
from Liverpool to America make Queenstown a caUing sta- 
tion. England stands between Ireland and the Continent. 
She can control and has successfully stifled the trade ven- 
tures of the weaker country. Deprived of commercial and 
industrial opportunities, the Irish people are restricted to 
agriculture. The population is distributed over the land in 
villages and scattered hamlets. There are but six towns of 
more than 20,000 inhabitants, — Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Lim- 
erick, Londonderry, and Waterford. These, it will be no- 
ticed, are all on the seacoast and owe their importance to 
some commercial advantage. In northern Ireland condi- 
tions are more favorable. The climate is bracing, the juxta- 
position of two such harbors as Belfast and Glasgow promotes 
commerce, while ready access to the Scotch coal district ren- 
ders manufacture profitable. The poverty of Ireland may be 
partly accounted for by misgovernment, but it is mainly due 
to lack of material resources. 

Industrial Opportunity and Population. — The compara- 
tive prosperity of the political divisions of Britain is clearly 
indicated by the movement of population.^ Scotland has 
always been sparsely settled. The population of Ireland is 
actually decreasing, while that of England and Wales has 
rapidly increased since the opening up of their mineral re- 
sources. 

1 Comparative densities, 1891 : Scotland, 135 inhabitants to square mile ; 
Ireland, 1^4; Wales, 204; England, 540; Saxony, 605. 



CHAPTER II 

RACE ELEMENTS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 

Books for Consultation 

Sources 

Cassar, Commentaries, Bk. IV, ch. XX-XXXVIII; V, ch. VIII-XXII. 
Tacitus, Agricola, Bk. V, ch. VII-XXIII. 

Tacitus, Germania, Sec. V, VII, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XVI, XXI, 
XXV, XXVL 

Beoivulf. 

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 

Asset's Life of Alfred. 

Bede's Ecclesiastical History. 

Proverbs of Alfred, Publications of ^Elfric Society. 

Special Authorities 

Windle, Early Man in Britain. 

W. B. Dawkins, Early Man in Britain. 

F. Seebohm, The Tribal System in Wales. 

Mommsen, Roman Provinces, Vol. I, Bk. VIII, ch. V. 

Wright, The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon. 

Coste, Romans of Briton. 

Worsaae, Danes and Northmen in England, Scotland, and Ireland. 

Ripley, The Races of England, ch. XII. 

Imaginative Literature 
Lanier, The Boy^s King Arthur. 

The Aborigines or Paleolithic Men. — Of the first inhabit- 
ants of the British Isles we know little with certainty. They 
belong to prehistoric time and have left no record of their 
existence save rude weapons chipped from flint or stone, or- 
naments of bone or ivory decorated with figures of animals, 

n 



12 Race Elements of the English Nation 

and the heaps of refuse that litter the caves where they 
found shelter. Their life was little superior to that of the 
wild beasts with whom .they contended for possession of 
cavern or watering-place. They did not know apparently 
how to till the ground or to tame the animals that might 
be made of use. For subsistence they relied on natural 
products. Fruits, nuts, and roots found in the forest, and 
the flesh of animals taken in the chase, furnished ample 
food. They had learned how to strike fire, probably by 
rubbing together sticks of hard dry wood, and to roast meat 




Engraving of a Mammoth on a Portion of a Tusk 

Joly, Matt before Metals 

between heated stones. The men doubtless exerted their 
strength and ingenuity in hunting and fishing, and in mak- 
ing arrows and spears and harpoons. The women cleaned 
the skins and fashioned them into clothing, catching the 
pieces together with bone awls and reindeer sinew. This 
is the most primitive stage of human development. We 
have something comparable to it to-day in the life of an 
Esquimaux village, but the men of the old stone age have 
no descendants in modern Britain. 

The Iberians. — The cave-dwellers were followed by a 
race of men, prehistoric also in origin, but far more ad- 



The Celts 13 

vanced in the art of living. They provided themselves 
shelter by building hovels of earth roofed in with branches, 
and they secured a surer food supply than nature afforded 
by burning a clear space in the forest and planting it with 
grain. Certain useful animals, such as dogs, horses, oxen, 
sheep, goats, and swine, were domesticated and held as per- 
sonal property. Rough Hnen cloth was manufactured by the 
women, who spun with spindle and distaff and wove on 
primitive looms. Wheat was ground with pestle and mor- 
tar, and made into a coarse bread. The many specimens 
of earthenware that have been preserved from this era 
prove that the Iberians had attained considerable skill in 
the potters' art. Their arrow-heads, knives, and axes show 




Primitive Canoe 

a distinct advance on the work of the cave men. They 
were still chipped from stone or flint, but so shaped and 
polished as to be far more effective. The forests were trav- 
ersed by paths like Indian trails, connecting the settlements 
and leading to the water. Doubtless some traffic was car- 
ried on along the rivers and even across the sea. The pre- 
historic merchant transported his wares, in a canoe hollowed 
out of a tree trunk or shaped of wicker-work sewn round 
with hides. The Iberians, or neolithic men, were a small, 
dark people probably of the same race as the Basques of the 
Pyrenees, but quite alien in blood to the other races of Europe 
and to the men who superseded them in Britain. 

The Celts. — Seven or eight centuries before the Christian Traill, I, 
era, a new people made its way across the sea to these west- 
ern islands. They were Celts, a branch of the great Aryan 



pp. 



14 Race Elements of the English Nation 



Seebohm, 
pp. 54-60. 



The tribal 
system. 



Seebohm, 
pp. 82-100. 



race family and closely related to the tribes then inhabiting 
Spain and Gaul. The Celts were tall, fair-haired, and valiant. 
They had learned to fuse copper and tin, and to manufac- 
ture weapons of bronze. This superiority enabled them 
readily to overmaster the Iberians, who fought with flint 
arrows or axes of stone. Many of these unfortunates doubt- 
less perished in the struggle, but more were reduced to 
slavery and forced to till the soil for the victors. The 
distinction between conquerors and conquered, free and 
unfree, was jealously maintained, and the subject race, ex- 
cluded from kinship with the Celts, remained short, dark- 
skinned, and servile for centuries to come. A remnant 
took refuge in the wild hill country of the west and north, 
and their swarthy descendants may still be seen in the 
Scotch Highlands, in the Welsh mountains, and on the 
barren Atlantic coast of Ireland. 

When history first takes note of the Celts, they had 
reached the pastoral stage of development. Their wealth 
was in herds of cattle, and they moved from one part of 
the country to another in search of grazing lands. The for- 
ests could now be felled for sowing, since the bronze axes 
gave a cutting edge, but agriculture was still of the simplest. 
Little labor would be spent in improving fields that might at 
any time be abandoned in pursuit of pasture. The country 
was held by numerous tribes, each united by the bond of 
blood-relationship, and each recognizing in thehead of kin- 
dred a chief or king. The government was patriarchal, im- 
mediate obedience being due to the head of the household, 
who was responsible to the chief for the good conduct of his 
family. The free tribes-man dwelt with his children, grand- 
children, and great-grandchildren in a rude hut built of wat- 
tled boughs, where all ate and slept together around the 
ancestral hearth. The household wealth consisted in cattle, 
weapons, house and field implements, and cloth woven now 
of wool as well as of flax. Private property in land was not 
yet recognized. The district that the tribe occupied and 
defended against all men not of the kin, was a common 




Prehistoric Weapons 

Evans, Ancient Stone Implements 

A, Flint implement from Kent's Cavern (face, C, Stone celt in original wooden handle 

side, and section) (Paleolithic) (Iberian) 

B, Flint arrow-head in original shaft (Iberian) D, Bronze axe and handle (Celtic) 



1 6 Race Eleuients of the E?iglisk Nation 



Seebohm, 
pp. 101-105. 



possession. Every tribes-man had a right to pasture his 
cattle in the meadows, to hunt in the forest, and to each 
family was assigned a certain portion of the arable land. Blood 
relationship had far more significance then than now. The 
men of a household were not only held responsible for the 
wrong-doing of every member, they were bound to avenge 
each other's wrongs. The injury done to an individual was 
an offence against his family, to be retaliated by the united 
effort of his clan. Such blood-feuds led to endless strife, 
and the intertribal contests to which they gave rise kept the 




J£na>n dUjSMi 



East View of Old Sarum 

From an old print in The Ge>itlemans Magazine 



land in a chronic state of war. Great earthworks and lines 
of fortification may still be traced that were thrown up by 
these primitive people. 

The first intercourse between Britain and the Continent 
may antedate the Celts. The Phoenicians, the most dar- 
ing seafarers of the ancient world, pushed their commercial 
ventures west along the coasts of the JMediterranean and out 
into the unknown sea as far as the Cassiterides. They 
found there an abundance of the rare metal, tin, then 
greatly in demand for the manufacture of bronze, and a 
flourishing trade developed. By many historians, the Cas- 



hitercourse between Britain and the Continent ij 



siterides have been identified with the Scilly Isles and the 
adjoining Cornish coast, but this assumption is far from 
proved. 

The first European who visited Britain and left a written 
account of what he saw was a Greek mathematician, Pytheas, Pytheas. 
who in the fourth century B.C. was sent by the merchants 
of Marseilles to inquire into the trade opportunities of 
the " Celtic countries " beyond the Pillars of Hercules. 
Pytheas explored only the east coast of Britain and hence 
knew nothing of Cornwall, but he reported to his patrons 
that the much-sought metal was carried by the natives to 
the mouth of the Thames for sale. In the last century be- 
fore Christ, Posidonius, a learned traveller from Rhodes, Posidonius. 
visited the " land of the wintry pole," and he records that 
slabs of tin were brought from the western peninsula to 
an island ^ on the east coast. Thence the precious freight 
was taken in open boats to a port in Gaul, carted over- 
land a thirty days' journey to the Rhone, and finally trans- 
ported down that river to Marseilles. 

Late in the pre-Christian era, several tribes of Gauls and 
Belgians crossed the Channel and, settling in south Britain, 
cultivated the soil to better advantage than the more primi- 
tive Celts who preceded them had been able to do. They 
were probably Gallic farmers whom Pytheas saw gathering 
the sheaves into great barns to thresh out the corn there 
" because they have so httle sunshine, that our open thresh- 
ing places would be of little use in that land of clouds and 
rain." Up the Thames valley and north along the coast to 
the Wash these late-come Celts pushed their settlements, 
driving the Britons before them. The wilderness was con- Traill, I, 
verted into cultivated fields, villages became populous PP- 84-90. 
towns, and a considerable commerce sprang up between the 
merchants of Gaul and their kinsmen across the Channel. 
The more civilized land furnished salt, articles of iron and 
bronze, together with cloth and pottery of finer grade than 
the islanders were able to manufacture. As return cargoes 
1 Probably Thanet, then surrounded by water at high tide. 



1 8 Race Elements of the English Nation 




Coracle of the Early Briton 



were sent, in addition to the mineral products that had 
first attracted traders to Britain, cattle and hides, wheat and 
barley, hunting dogs and slaves. The ancient trails that 
ran along the hilltops and sought the river-fords were 

beaten into well-defined 
roads and fiirnished easy 
communication from sea to 
sea, but the Thames and 
the Severn v/ere the high- 
ways of trade. On the 
banks of each river the 
merchants erected an altar 
to Lud, the god of com- 
merce. Lud had a silver 
hand and gave good luck 
to all who sacrificed at his 
shrine. The memory of these primitive temples of mammon- 
worship survives in Lydney, the name of a Gloucestershire 
village, and in Ludgate Hill, the heart of the commercial 
metropolis of the globe. The Welsh word for London is 
still Caer-Ludd, Lud's town. 

According to Strabo, who wrote in the last century before 
Christ, Britain was a land of forest, moor, and fen. In the 
south, near the harbors and along the navigable rivers, were 
towns and cultivated lands, — the settlements of the Gauls; 
but to the north and west. Nature had her way with the 
country. Two-thirds of the island was covered by a heavy 
growth of gigantic oaks. The Channel coast was skirted by 
forests all the way from Kent to Devon. The valleys of 
the Thames and the Severn were densely wooded, but the 
chalk hills north and south of the Thames were compara- 
tively open. Here, where the land was easily cleared, were 
the pastures, the scant cornfields, and the earthwork fort- 
resses of the British tribes. Along the Wash the tides ran 
far inland, inundating the level stretches of river-bottom 
and converting them into uninhabitable fens. Further north, 
dense forests extended from the coast to the barren range 



The Roman Conquest 19 

of hills that forms the watershed between the rivers that 
run to the German Ocean and those that make their way to 
the Irish Sea. The highlands to the west and north were 
trackless wilderness. To the inhabitants of southern Eu- 
rope, the cHmate seemed cold and forbidding. " The sky 
is rather stormy than cloudy, and in fine weather there is 
a mist which lasts some time so that the sun is only seen 
for three or four hours in the middle of the day." But the 
land was abundantly fertile, the forests teemed with game 
and the rivers with fish, pearls were cast upon the sea- 
shore, and precious metals were to be had with little labor 
from the western hills. No wonder that Britain exercised a 
potent influence on the adventurous spirits of the ancient 
world. 

The Roman Conquest. — A land so promising could not 
long escape the attention of the Romans, the world con- 
querors. Julius Caesar first came into contact with the Julius Caesar. 
Britons during the campaigns in Gaul. Learning that the Traill I 
Veneti, who were contesting his authority, received aid from pp. 10-15. 
their kinsmen over-sea, he determined to strike terror to the 
hearts of the daring Britons. In August of 55 B.C., two 
legions were embarked to carry his purpose into effect. 
But then, as often in later history, the difficult winds and 
tides of the Channel proved the best defence of the 
islanders. The first expedition was demoralized by a Csesar, 
storm. When in the year following Caesar crossed again ^^^^^^ ^''^^' 
with five legions, he made his way into the interior and de- y 's^is^ ' 
stroyed a stockaded fortress on the Thames. Nothing was 
achieved, however, beyond a vain promise of tribute. Vexed 
by the loss of many of his ships and persuading himself 
that his object was accompHshed, the great general with- 
drew his forces. 

The systematic conquest of " the cliff-girt isle " was not 
undertaken till a hundred years later. In 43 a.d. the Em- 
peror Claudius despatched forty thousand men under Aulus ^^j^^ 
Plautius on this mission. During his four years' sojourn in Plautius. 
Britain; Plautius succeeded in subduing the GaUic tribes to 



20 Race Elemeitts of the English Nation 

the south of the Wash and the Severn, and thus put the 
Romans in possession of the coveted tin mines. His im- 
mediate successors built a Hne of forts along this frontier, 
planted a Roman colony at Camulodunum/ and carried the 
terror of the Roman name into the mountains of the west. 
The sacred grove of the Druids in the island of Mona 
(Anglesea) was destroyed, and the^aith of the Celts in 
the protecting power of their ancient gods was shaken. 




A Roman Galley, showing the Boarding Bridge, etc. 

From an old print 



The western confines of the Roman conquest were guarded 
by a series of fortified towns, — Deva (Chester), Uriconium 
(Wroxeter), and Isca Silurum (Cserleon upon Usk).^ 

Agricola. — Roman authority was thus established in the 
heart of Britain. Plautius and the generals who immedi- 
ately followed him were, however, but military leaders, 
rapid and cruel in their methods, and unsuited to the diffi- 
cult task of governing newly subject barbarians. The pro- 

1 The capital city of Shakespeare's CymbeU7ie. 

2 The "towered Camelot" of Arthurian romance. 



Extent of tPie Roniaii Provi?ice 21 

cess of civilization began with the advent of Agricola. This 
able governor subdued the Celtic tribes west to the Irish 
Sea and north as far as the Sol way and the Tyne, and 
established a strong garrison at Eboracum (York) which 
became the centre of Roman influence in the north. Thus 
Agricola ranks with the foremost of the conquerors; but 
he knew that a conquest which "loads the vanquished Tacitus, 
with injury and oppression can never be secure and per- 
manent." He therefore undertook to reconcile the people 
to Roman rule by appointing just men to office, sup- 
pressing the abuses that were rife under his predeces- 
sors, checking the intertribal feuds that had been the curse 
of Britain, and guarding the prosperous south against the 
untamed barbarians beyond the frontiers. It was in the 
hope of overawing the Picts of the north — Caledonians, 
as the Romans called them — that Agricola pushed his 
conquests to the valley lying between the estuaries of the 
Forth and the Clyde. The highlands beyond proved un 
conquerable. The tribal chieftains summoned their fol- 
lowers to the upland glens and defied pursuit. The Roman 
commander was obliged to be content with erecting a new 
line of forts along this northernmost frontier. ' Agricola had 
projected an invasion of Ireland, but he was not allowed 
time to carry out this plan. The sister island remained 
independent and a refuge for malcontents until long after 
Roman dominion had passed away. After six years of 
efficient service, the best ruler Rome ever sent to Britain 
was recalled because of the emperor's jealousy, but Agricola 
" delivered to his successor," says his biographer Tacitus, 
"a quiet and well-ordered government.-' 

Extent of the Roman Province. — In the next century 
these conquests were secured by walls connecting the origi- ^ 

nal fortresses. Hadrian erected the so-called Roman wall 1 waUs. °'"^" 
that spans the seventy miles from Carlisle to Newcastle. 
It was strongly built of stone, and considerable portions 

1 Hadrian's Wall (119 A.D.), later calJed the Picts" Wall, and now the 
Roman Wall, was a chain of forts connected by an intrenched road. 



i2 iR.ace Elements of the English Nation 



of it are standing to this day. 




The wall of Antonine ^ ran 
from the Forth to the 
Clyde, and bounded the 
northernmost conquest. 
It was less securely built 
of earth, as befitted the 
more dubious tenure. 
Within these limits the 
Pax Romanum was main- 
tained for upward of 
three centuries. The 
English race has not 
been in possession of 
the Atlantic seaboard of 



a time, and yet the Ro- 



5 ;« North America so long 

o ^ 

'^ "^ mans did not Latinize 

g ^ Britain as we have Angli- 

prf ^ cized our part of the 

g ^ New World. The ex- 

Q "i, planation of their failure 

§ 1 is to be found in the 

, ^ nature of the Roman 



S colony. 

< The Character of Ro- 

man Rule. — The Latin 
conquest of Britain 
meant military occupa- 
tion, not settlement. 
Rome held the country 
as Spain held her colo- 
nies for the sake of the 
revenue to be derived 
and the lucrative posts 
that provincial adminis- 

1 The wall of Antonine, now 
called Graham's Dyke, was built in the reign of Antoninus Pius (143 A.D.). 



Gains 23 

tration afforded to her citizens. The native population was 
not supplanted as we have supplanted the Indians, but left 
on the land and governed in the interest of Rome. It suited 
the conquerors that the people should be contented and pros- 
perous, therefore stable government was maintained, the land 
was protected against invasion and civil war, while Britons 
who had deserved well of the ruling Caesar were admitted 
to Roman citizenship. 

Gains. — Great attention was given to the development Traill, i, 
of the material resources of the country. The mines were PP- 9o-9S- 
worked to their full capacity, forests were cleared, marshes 
drained, and the area of tillage extended by forced labor. 
As far north as Hadrian's wall the country was portioned Cunning- 
out in great estates and cultivated for the benefit of the ^^"i- P- 
alien owners by the subjugated Celts. The Roman proprie- 
tors introduced iron-shod tools, fruit trees, grape vines, new 
varieties of seed, better breeds of cattle, and rotation of 
crops. Under their intelligent supervision, Britain became 
" the granary of the north." The remains of numerous 
palaces and villas, solidly built of stone, handsomely paved, 
and provided with hot-air pipes as a protection against this 
climate " always damp with rains and overcast with clouds," 
still testify to the wealth of the Roman landowners. 

An alien and hated ruling class would not neglect the 
means of communication. Military roads were cut straight 
through the country to connect strategic points. The old 
streets were widened, graded, and substantially paved with 
stone, bridges were built across, the more dangerous fords, ^he Rom 
and no pains was spared in the effort to facilitate trade, roads. 
Four highways converged at Londiniuni (London), already 
become the commercial centre of Britain, and three at the 
important frontier fortress of Deva (Chester). Two well- 
travelled roads crossed at Aquae Sulis (Bath), much fre- 
quented even then for its medicinal waters. The principal 
roads were Watling Street running from Rutupiae (Rich- 
borough) on the Channel by way of London and Wroxeter 
to Chester and the Irish Sea ; Irmin Street from Lincoln 



24 Race Elements of the English Nation 

through a pottery district to Colchester and London; and 
the Fosse Way, connecting Lincohi with Bath. Under the 
influence of the Latins, the land waxed rich and populous. 
Camps and military stations, maintained at first for defence, 
attracted a non-martial population and soon became towns. 
Two centuries after the conquest, Britain boasted fifty-nine 
cities, thirty of which were fortified.^ These were the cen- 




MULTIANGULAR I'OWER, YORK 
The lower half is of Roman masonry 



tres of Roman civilization, the seats of Roman government. 
Here were palaces, baths, theatres, and the other luxuries 
that rendered provincial hfe endurable to the conquerors. 
Agricola had encouraged education and brought Roman 
tutors to Britain. Under Hadrian, the land was described 
as having been conquered by Gallic schoolmasters. Latin 

1 Several English cities retain in their modern names evidence of 
Roman origin; e.g. Porchester (Portus Magnus), Lincoln (Lindum 
Colonia), Gloucester (Glevum Castrum), Winchester (Gwent Castrum). 



Losses 25 

was the prevailing language in the towns. The Celtic 
tongue, despised and forgotten, was banished to the rural 
districts. 

Losses. — Great as were the advantages of Roman rule, Traill, I, 
they were more than counterbalanced by the heavy burdens PP' ^°"^5' 
imposed. Besides the usual money tribute levied upon the 
provinces, Britain was obliged to furnish a fixed quota of 
corn for the maintenance of the imperial armies. Customs 
duties were collected at every port, and the flourishing trade 
with the continent was made to pay toll to the imperial 
treasury. Estates were assessed to the full amount of their 
revenue, and prompt payment was extorted. The visit of 
the tax-gatherer furnished the occasion for more than one 
insurrection.^ 

This was not all. The Britons complained that they were 
forced to pay " a yearly tribute of their bodies." The men 
annually drafted into the army and navy were sent abroad 
for service, " as if they might die for every country but their Tacitus, 
own." It was part of the imperial policy to break down 
national feeling in the provinces by such interchange of 
troops. An African serving in Gaul, or a Briton serving in 
the Pyrenees, lost his provincialism and learned to consider 
himself the servant of Caesar. Britain was doubtless civil- 
ized by the Roman occupation, but at heavy cost. The 
steady drain of money, blood, and patriotism reduced the 
people to imjDotency. 

A source of weakness, more insidious but no less sure, 
was the demorahzation consequent on contact with Roman 
life. Few barbarous peoples are able to retain their race 
integrity in the presence of a higher civilization. As they 
imitate alien customs, they are prone to abandon their own 
moral standards. In the case of the Romanized Celts, the 
civilization they adopted was fundamentally corrupt. The 
Roman rulers gave to Britain a strong government and 
encouraged advanced methods of commerce and industry, 
but they introduced at the same time enervating luxuries 

1 e.g. the rising under Boadicea, 61 A.D, 



26 Race Elemejits of the English Nation 

and unmanly vices. The inhabitants who came under the 
influence of Rome lapsed slowly into sloth and cowardice. 
Christian missionaries, it is true, came from Rome, — the 
Apostle Paul himself, tradition would have us believe ; but 
not until the fourth century, not until Constantine had 
placed the cross upon the imperial banner, was the church 
estabhshed in Britain. Its hold upon the people was slight. 
In many of the towns, Christian temples were built ^ and 
the clergy obtained considerable influence, but in the rural 
districts, spite of the many mission monasteries dedicated 
to the conversion of the Britons, the superstitious practices 
of Druidism Ungered. 

The Barbarian Invasions. — When the power of Rome 
began to wane and it was found necessary to withdraw 
the imperial troops from this remote province, the Celts 

Gildas. were become "an indolent and slothful race" with no 

capacity to govern themselves or to defend their land 
against invasion. Enemies multiplied apace. Picts (Iberi- 
ans from Scotland) swarmed over the unprotected wall, 
Scots (Celts from Ireland) crossed the Irish Sea and made 
their way up the Solway, the Dee, and the Severn into the 
interior. These were old foes, but worse was to come. 
Along the east and south coasts, for centuries exempt from 
war, appeared the Saxons. These were daring pirates, who, 
crossing the North Sea in their long galleys, sought plunder 
in Britain. Beaching their boats where occasion offered, 
they forced a landing and preyed upon the heljDless inhabit- 
ants. Desperate attempts were made to ward off the in- 
vaders. Watch-towers were built on every navigable river 
along the coast from the Wash to Beachy Head. The de- 
fence of the south was entrusted to a commander entitled 
'.' the Count of the Saxon shore," while a " Duke of the 
Britons " was appointed to hold the Scots and Picts at bay. 
All was of little avail. The attacks of the barbarians grew 
more frequent, more persistent, and the resistance less ef- 

Bede. fective every year. "They levelled, trampled down, and 

1 e.g. St. Martin's at Canterbury. 




West 5 



4 Longitude 3 from 2 Greenwich 1 



East 1 



BORMAY & Ca.,tNGR.'S,N,Y. 



28 Race Elements of the English Nation 



Withdrawal 
of the 
Romans. 



Green, 
pp. 39-44. 



swept off whatever came in their way, as if they were reap- 
ing corn ripe for the harvest." 

The Emperor could give no adequate assistance, for 
barbarians threatened not Britain only but every frontier 
province. The Vandals invaded Gaul and severed the 
communication between Britain and Rome. The imperial 
city was itself pillaged by the Goths (410) and had need of 
all her legions. In 411 Honorius sent letters bidding the 
Britons look to their own defence. One last appeal the 
abandoned province addressed to Rome. " The barbari- 
ans," they said, " drive us to the sea ; the sea throws us back 
on the barbarians : thus two modes of death await us, we 
are either slain or drowned."^ The withdrawal of the 
Roman officials gave opportunity for the tribal chiefs to 
assert their authority. One after another assumed the title 
"Duke of Britain," but no one was strong enough to unite 
the several tribes under his leadership. Rival ambitions 
led to demoralizing strife, and Britain was a kingdom di- 
vided against itself in the day when it had most need of 
strength. 

The Saxon Conquest. — The Saxons, as the Britons indis- 
criminately termed the invaders, belonged to the same race 
family as the Celts, but to a distinct branch — the Teuton. 
They came from the low peninsula that hes between the 
Baltic and the North Sea : the Jutes from the land we now 
call Denmark, the Angles from Schleswig-Holstein, the 
Saxons from the valleys of the Weser and Elbe rivers. The 
region they abandoned was wild swamp-land and forest. 
To their unaccustomed eyes, the cultivated fields and popu- 
lous cities of Britain were marvels of wealth and a tempting 
prey. They crossed the sea in war-bands, each chief ac- 
companied by his gesiths, warriors pledged to fight by his 
side to the death and entitled to a share in the booty. The 
object of the first expeditions was pillage. Later, as they 
proved their prowess, the invaders grew more ambitious, 



1 Quoted by Gildas from the " Groans of the Britons," an appeal ad- 
dressed to Rome in 446 a,d. 




BOHMmY « CO.,ENIiR'S,N.Y. 



30 Race Elements of the English Nation 



Jutes. 

Green, 
PP- 4S-4 



Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle. 



Saxons. 



Deorham, 
S77' 



and bringing with them women, children, and cattle, fought 
with a view to securing settlements. 

Fearing to be worsted in the unequal contest, the Britons 
employed a Roman device and bribed one set of barbarians 
to drive out another. In 449, a band of Jutes, under Hen- 
gist and Horsa,^ was engaged to lend aid against the Picts 
and was thereupon allowed to occupy the Isle of Thanet. 
But the strange allies soon became troublesome. Com- 
plaining that the supplies provided them were insufficient, 
they ravaged the adjoining country, driving the terrified 
inhabitants to take refuge in the churches, in the forest, in 
the walled city of London. "The people fled from the 
Saxons as from fire." Villas were burned, temples pillaged, 
fields laid waste, while all who made resistance were put to 
the sword. By 473, the Jutes were in full possession of 
Kent. Four years later, a company of Saxons under y^lla 
and Cissa landed at Selsey, and, storming the fortified places, 
conquered the south shore east to Anderida, and settled 
as South Saxons. In 495 other bands of Jutes and Saxons, 
led by Cerdic and Cymric, entered at Southampton Water, 
pushed west and north, and founded the kingdom of Wes- 
sex. The advance of the invaders seemed resistless, but 
they met a British force in pitched battle at M't. Badon 
(520) and received a sudden check. The Saxons were 
forced back below the stretch of upland forest that then 
divided the Thames valley from the southern slopes of the 
Hampshire downs. The reviving courage of the Celts, and 
the praises of the hero king who led them to victory, were 
expressed in the legends of Arthur. For the moment, the 
fate of Britain seemed averted, but the respite was brief. 
In 552, the strong walls of Old Sarum gave way, and by 
577, the West Saxons had pushed their conquests to the 
Severn. At the battle of Deorham, three British kings were 
slain and three strong cities, Gloucester, Cirencester, and 
Bath, fell into the hands of the invader. This victory was 

1 Hengist and Horsa, Cerdic and Cymric, ^Ua and Cissa, may bq 
legendary heroes. 



The Saxon Conquest 31 

decisive, for the Saxon conquest drove like a wedge be- 
tween the Celts of Devon and Cornwall and their kinsmen 
of Wales and the north, thus rendering concerted resistance 
impossible. 

Meantime, along the east coast, other barbarians, having Green, 
possessed themselves of the country from the Stour to the PP- S^-S^- 
Thames, settled as East Saxons in the land we call Essex, 
and as Middle Saxons farther west, where the fortified city 
of London fell to their portion. The third race of invaders, 
the Angles, making straight across the Channel, forced their Angles, 
way into the inlets of the east coast and dispossessed the 
Britons in like fashion. They seem to have assumed new 
names, geographical rather than tribal. Between the Stour 
and the Wash, the East Anglians settled as Northfolk and 
Southfolk. Farther north, about the Roman fortress of 
Lindum, lay the Lindiswaras. Beyond the Humber, the 
Angles were called Deirans and Bernicians from the Celtic 
names of the lands they held. The Mercians were the men 
of the mark, or border, who held the English frontier 
against the unconquered Celts of the western highlands. 
Here the remnant of the Britons, whom the English called 
Welsh, or " strangers," stubbornly stood their ground, and 
succeeded in maintaining for centuries to come their tribal 
independence, cherishing with fervent patriotism the lan- 
guage, customs, and traditions of their race. The Roman- 
ized Gauls to the south and east made no such resistance, 
but sullenly submitted to the superior strength of the in- 
vader. How far they were exterminated is an open ques- 
tion. The tov/ns doubtless suffered severely, and the 
populous river valleys; the chieftains and fighting-men fell 
in battle ; but there is good reason to believe that the mass 
of the conquered, notably the women, were spared to serve 
their conquerors in house and field. 

Thus, over the greater part of England the Celts were 
reduced to subjection on the lands that they had once 
wrested from the Iberians. An interesting evidence of their 
degradation is the fact that the few Celtic words surviving 



32 Race Elements of the English Nation 

in English speech are the names of household furniture and 
farm implements.^ Nothing of Celtic usage survives in 
English institutions. 
Green, Effects of the Saxon Conquest. — Bred in the forests of 

pp. 48, 49. north Germany, remote from the Roman frontier, the Anglo- 
Saxons knew nothing of the Latin language, lavi^, or religion. 
Hence the conquest meant reversion to barbarism. On the 
continent the Teuton invaders, Visigoths, Franks, Lombards, 
were won over to the civilization of the empire they de- 
stroyed, adopting the speech and the faith of the lands they 




Cunning- 
ham, p. 56. 



Ruins of Iona Cathedral 

Macgibbon and Ross, Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland 

settled. But it was otherwise in Britain. The barbarians 
laid waste the cities,^ slaughtered the inhabitants, and 
reduced the splendid Roman palaces to smoking ruins. 
Christian temples were sacked by the champions of Woden 
and Thor. Priests and monks were driven to take refuge 
in the fastnesses of the Welsh mountains, or the remote 
Irish shore. Wherever the Saxon won a foothold paganism 
triumphed. Latin and Celtic ceased to be spoken in the 
conquered districts, and all classes came to use the Ger- 
manic dialects spoken by the new masters. 

1 e.g. pony, cart, cradle, crock, bannock, slough. 

2 Many ruined cities were later rebuilt, but Anderida, Uriconiuni, 
Verulamium, lie in ruins still. 



Effects of the Saxon Conquest 



33 



The speech of the conquered race never recovered su- 
premacy, but it was otherwise with Christianity, for the 
church had its missionaries. Saint Patrick, a British slave, 
had won the wild Irish to the faith of Christ in the fifth 
century. In the sixth, Ireland sent ardent apostles for the 
reconversion of Britain. Columba founded a mission mon- 
astery at lona, i\.idan christened Lindisfarne, the Holy Isle, 
Cuthbert preached the gospel to the Northumbrians, Chad 
to the Mercians. The Pope sent his emissaries as well : 
Augustine to the men of Kent, Birinus to Wessex, Paulinus 
to the Northumbrians, Ninias to the Picts. The English 
proved ready converts. The "unsullied hfe " of the de- 
voted missionaries won their hearts, and they gladly received 
at such hands the religion that promised a more certain 
knowledge of the Hfe and destiny of man than their nature 
myths could give. Mercia alone held out. For twenty- 
two years (633-655) Penda, the chief of the borderland, 
fought the battle of the old gods against Edwin, the Chris- 
tian king of Northumbria. Not till the sturdy old heathen 
lay dead, were the labors of Chad crowned with success by 
the baptism of Penda's son and successor. 

Of Roman law and forms of government little survived 
the conquest. The Anglo-Saxons followed their ancient 
customs so far as they suited new conditions. Some increase 
of the chieftain's authority was inevitable. The leader of 
each invading host was recognized as king of the conquered 
territory.^ It was usual to attribute to such heroes descent 
from Woden and to confer the royal office on one of his 
sons, but there was no hereditary right. The ablest man 
of the house was usually designated by the assembled war- 
riors {t\\Q foIk-77toot). The members of the war-band, the 
gesiths, who had shared the hardships and the glories of the 
conquest, remained in attendance on the king as his thegiis. 
They were his immediate councillors and the stable element 
of his fighting force. The rank and file of freemen were 

1 Hengist is said to have become king of Kent, and Cerdic king of 
the West Saxons. 



Green, 
pp. 53-62. 

Introduction 

of 

Christianity. 



Bede. 



Political 
organization. 

Green, 
pp. 49-50. 



34 Race Elements of the English Nation 

summoned twice a year to the folk-moot and were liable at 
the call of the king to occasional service in the army ox fyrd. 
It is probable that the conquering Saxons settled by com- 
panies in villages {tuns or hams') ^ each clan giving its name to 
the settlement.^ The land was apportioned as booty among 
the warriors according to rank. The chief probably retained 
the largest share, to his immediate followers would be 
assigned considerable tracts, while the simple freemen 
secured each a strip of arable land and had the right to 
pasture cattle in the common meadows, to hunt and to 
gather wood in the forest surrounding the village. 

The Welsh communities in the north and west remained 
unaffected by the conquest, but in the English districts the 
subjugated Celts were generally reduced to serfdom. Indi- 
viduals were doubtless sold into bondage, but the mass of 
the people remained as servile cultivators and craftsmen 
on the estates of the large landowners. The position of the 
serf was far superior to that of the slave. He was obliged 
to labor at the bidding of his lord and to render a certain 
amount of produce for the maintenance of his master's 
household, but he could not be sold into slavery nor could 
he be deprived of the right to live off the land his fathers 
had tilled. Some of the great Roman estates may have 
survived the conquest, but through the greater part of Eng- 
land the fields were laid waste and the very tradition of 
advanced methods of cultivation lost. 

Thus modern England owes little to Roman Britain. So 
complete was the Germanic conquest, so fully do Anglo- 
Saxon language, customs, and race traits dominate all later 
development, that English history may be said to date from 
the fifth century. The national life begins when the English 
people come into possession of their island home. 

UnsuUied by Roman civilization, in the full vigor of barba- 
Traill, I, rism, fierce fighters and heavy eaters, the Saxons had slight 

pp. 132, 133. comprehension of art, hterature, or the refinements of civ- 

1 Many of these generic names survive in modern England, e.g. Hun- 
tingdon, town of the Huntings ; Buckingham, home of the Buckings. 



Attainment of Ecclesiastical Unity 



35 



ilization ; but they were physically superior to their prede- 
cessors in Britain, and they possessed the capacity for 
self-defence and self-government that the demoralized Celts 
conspicuously lacked. Even the Welsh mountain tribes 
were weak by comparison. A pastoral people, they had 
slight sense of ownership in their grazing lands and readily 
abandoned them when threatened by superior force. The 
Saxons, on the other hand, lived by th'e cultivation of the 
soil. No later invader succeeded in dispossessing them. 
They remain fast rooted to the land and have furnished the 
most enduring element in English life and character. 




Inscription from a Runic Stone 

De Worsaae, The Primeval Atitiquities of Dentnark 



Attainment of Ecclesiastical Unity. — The first apostles 
to the English worked quite independently of each other 
and often at cross-purposes. The southern kingdoms were 
converted by missionaries sent from Rome, while the north 
received the faith from the lips of Irish monks. Certain Green, 
differences of observance, slight enough in themselves,^ dis- PP- ^4- 
tinguished the emissaries of the Pope from the disciples of 
Columba. Each faction insisted on its own usage, and sharp 
dissension arose. In 664, a great synod was held at Whitby, 
where a decision was reached, confirming the Roman cus- 
tom, and thereafter the English church recognized the Pope 
as supreme authority in matters spiritual. The Irish church 

1 Such questions as the suitable form of tonsure and the correct date for 
the Easter festival. 



36 Race Elements of the English Nation 

remained loyal to its ancient usage and independent of 
Rome. When Theodore of Tarsus became Archbishop 
of Canterbury {66^), he undertook to organize the churches 
of the several Saxon kingdoms as a national whole. The 
number of bishops was increased and each was made re- 
sponsible to the archbishop for the well-being of his own 
diocese. Ecclesiastical questions of general importance 
were to be determined in representative councils. Stable 
organization gave new effectiveness to the work of the 




Saxon Church at Bradford-on-Avon 

Archaeological yonrnal 

church, and the English soon came to be regarded as the 
most Christian people of Western Europe. Within a hun- 
dred years after the landing of Augustine, England was send- 
ing missionaries and scholars to the continent.^ 

The Postponement of Political Unity. — The church was 
organized on national lines five hundred years before politi- 
cal unity was attained. During the eighth and ninth cen- 
turies England was divided into a number of little kingdoms^ 
warring against each other for increase of territory. One by 

1 Willibrord to Frisia, Quidbert to Hesse, Alcuin to the court of Charle- 
magne. 

2 The seven kingdoms, Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, Sussex, Kent, 
Essex, East Anglia, made up the so-called Heptarchy. 



The Danes 37 

one the weaker states were forced to a dependent position, 
and the contest for supremacy lay between the three great 
kingdoms, Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex. Each in turn Bright, I. 
won the leadership only to be displaced by a stronger rival. PP- ^-S- 
No one had force sufficient to establish a permanent rule. 
The title of Bretwalda, conferred upon a successful king, Bretwalda. 
gave him no authority but that of overlord of semi-indepen- 
dent states. 

These unhappy civil dissensions delayed the subjugation 
of the Celtic tribes to the north and west. The most 
martial of the English kings succeeded in advancing their 
boundaries only a httle way beyond the original frontier. 
Ethelfrith of Northumbria (593-617) drove the Scots back 
to the Firth of Forth in 603. Four years later he forced 
his way to the river Dee, and, taking possession of Chester, 
divided the Welsh of the mountains from the Welsh of 
Strathclyde. Edwin, his able successor (617-633), built a 
fortress, Edwinesburgh, on the Forth as an outpost against 
the Scots, and launching a fleet on the Irish Sea, added 
Anglesea and the Isle of Man to the hst of English con- 
quests. Offa of Mercia (758-794) pushed his frontier 
beyond the Severn, planted a setdement at Shrewsbury, and 
erected along this western boundary a huge dyke called by 
his name.^ Egbert of Wessex (800-836) won a victory 
over the West Welsh that gave him possession of Exeter and 
added Devon to his kingdom. 

Egbert was the eighth Bretwalda, but the first " king of 
the Enghsh." His kingdom extended from the Tamar to 
the Tweed, from Offa's dyke to the Channel, almost the 
present confines of England. But the time was not ripe 
for national unity. Tribal distinctions were jealously fos- 
tered by the subject kings. Northumbrians, Mercians, Jutes, 
and Saxons did not learn to act as one people until they 
were forced to do so in meeting a common danger and 
fighting a common foe. 

The Danes. — Toward the close of the eighth century, 

1 Offa's dyke may still be traced from the Wye to the Dee. 



38 Race Elements of the English Natioji 



Green, 
pp. 77-80. 

Bright, I, 
PP- S-1- 



Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle. 



Traill, I, 
pp. 140-147. 



Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle. 



civilization was threatened by new barbarian invasions ; 
the Danes or Northmen came swarming down from the 
Scandinavian lands along the Baltic to plunder the coast 
of Em-ope. England first became aware of them in 787, 
when three pirate ships attacked the town of Dorches- 
ter. Six years later the " havoc of heathen men mis- 
erably destroyed God's church at Lindisfarne." From that 
time the raids grew more frequent till they became a yearly 
scourge. 

The Vikings ^ found Britain a rich and easy prey. Com- 
ing as the Angles and Jutes had done three hundred years 
before, as pirates aiming at plunder, they were at first con- 
tent to harry the coast-lands and escape over-sea with their 
booty. As they gained in numbers and experience, how- 
ever, they made their way up the rivers and attacked popu- 
lous towns. London fell a prey to such a raid (853), and 
the rich episcopal cities of Canterbury (853) and York 
(867). The EngUsh made but feeble resistance, preferring 
to buy off the foe rather than fight against desperate odds. 
They had lost valor and military skill in the years of order 
and plenty. They had become farmers, merchants, priests. 
Prosperous, contented, fully wonted to the arts of peace, 
they were loath to take up arms except when danger 
threatened their own immediate vicinity. Rudely armed, 
undisciplined, fighting each kingdom and each town for 
itself, they were easily worsted by the war-bands of the 
Danes. The invaders, on the other hand, were mailed 
warriors who, mounted on horseback and free of incum- 
brances, swept the country from sea to sea. Every raid 
was a disaster to the English, marked by smoking houses 
and devastated fields ; but their enemies had nothing to 
lose. When brought to bay, the " foxes " intrenched them- 
selves in hastily constructed earthworks. Driven thence, 
they fled over-sea no poorer than they came. The black 
keels of the Northmen multiplied year by year until their 

1 Norse chieftains, so called from the vicks or inlets where their ships 
were harbored. 




/ . Foot 



Danish Armor 

De Worsaae, Industrial Arts of Denjttark 



40 Race Elements of the English Nation 

advent darkened the sea. Pushing up the Thames, the 
Severn, and the rivers of the east coast, they overran 
Mercia, East AngUa, and Northumbria. The inhabitants 
could make no effective stand against them. Lincoln and 
Nottingham fell into Danish hands, together with Derby, 
Leicester, and Stamford, the five boroughs from which they 
ruled northern England. Once secure in possession of 
Northumbria and Mercia, the chieftains apportioned the 
lands among their followers, and the fierce sea-rovers began 
to plough and, sow their new possession like men who meant 
to stay. In Kent and East Angha the "army" plundered 




Viking Ship found at Gokstadt 

Montelius, The Civilization of Sweden in Heathett Times 



Green, 
pp. 8-82. 



and burned until the people were fain to purchase a humil- 
iating truce. The invaders reached Wessex in 851, but here 
they met more valiant resistance. King Ethelwulf and his 
brother Alfred met them in fair fight. Nine great battles 
were fought in that year, but with so dubious result that 
the West Saxons were forced in their turn to make a com- 
promising peace. 

Alfred (871-901). — When Alfred came to the throne, 
the realm of Egbert was reduced to Wessex and Devon ; 
and Wessex itself was so cowed by defeat that the people 
had been content to buy off the Danes, though experience 
proved that such promises were lightly broken. It was 



Alfred 41 

Alfred's task to encourage his people to undertake a united 
resistance. In 878 the "army" again crossed the Thames Bright, 
and harried the west country. The terrified inhabitants P- ^• 
submitted or fled over-sea. The king himself was put to 
great straits and took refuge with a little band of faithful 
followers in the woods and moor fastnesses of Devon. 
There at Athelney he threw up a fortress and summoned 
the people to his aid. The hearts of the West Saxons 
"resided in brave dwelHngs." They only needed a leader. Anglo-Saxon 
From all the adjacent shires men true and valiant flocked <^'^^^^^'^^^- 
to his standard. Desperation lent strength to the Httle 
force, so that they sought out the "army" at Ethandun 
and put it to flight. Guthorm, the Danish chieftain, was 
fain to promise that he would receive baptism and molest 
Wessex no further. Two years later his army withdrew to 
East Anglia and settled there. Those who could not be 
reconciled to a quiet life returned over-sea. In the treaty Treaty of 
of Wedmore (878), concluded between Alfred and Gu- Wedmore, 
thorm, an attempt was made to define the territory con- ^'^^' 
quered by the Danes. The half of England north of 
Watling Street, including Essex, East Anglia, Eastern Mercia, 
and Deira, was conceded to be Danelagh. All England 
south of the Thames remained to Alfred, and Western 
Mercia acknowledged his overlordship. Bernicia was in- 
dependent, but Enghsh and friendly. Fifteen years of com- 
parative peace followed upon Guthorm's surrender. 

The " stillness " Alfred longed for was, however, not yet Asser's Life. 
secured. The " heathen " were ever faith-breakers, and bap- 
tism could not purge their hearts of love of plunder. New 
armies came over-sea, and the Danes of East Anglia and the 
north were prone to join their plundering raids. In 893, 
Hasting, the famous freebooter who had for years been the 
terror of the Frankish kingdoms, landed in Kent with two 
great armies, and his onslaught threatened to overwhelm 
the land. The emergency lent Alfred authority such as no 
king of the Enghsh had yet exercised. Every considerable 
landowner was obliged to furnish a fully armed horseman, 




3 Lcn^tude 2 from 1 Greenwich East 1 



Alfred 



43 



while every freeman, however small his holding, must serve 
in the fyrd. A simple rotation of service converted the 
occasional levy into a standing army. The king divided 
his host into two parts. One half remained at home, while 
the other half served in the field, a sufficient number of 
men being reserved to defend the cities. With this force, 
the king marched from London to Exeter and back again 
to London, driving the Vikings from their fastnesses and 
burning their ships when they came ashore. The harvesters 
were protected as they gathered the crops, and the king's 



-as*--' ■'<»^.., 







Ancient War Canoe 

Miiller, Nordische Altertttvtskunde 

troops stood guard while the townsmen rebuilt their walls. 
" Thanks be to God," cries the Chronicler, " the army had 
not utterly broken up the Angle race." With disciplined 
and reliable troops at his service, Alfred was more than a 
match for the invaders and drove them from the land ; but 
the Vikings were still masters of the Channel and ready to 
swoop down upon any undefended point. Realizing that 
these attacks must be forestalled, the king commanded 
great ships to be built after a model of his own devising. 
They were longer and steadier and at the same time swifter 
than the "keels" of the Danes. In 897 the httle navy 



44 Race Elements of the English Nation 



Green, 
pp. 81-E 



Proverbs of 
Alfred. 



put boldly out to sea and drove the Viking fleet from the 
south coast. 

The Work of Alfred. — Alfred rescued Saxon civilization 
when he confined the Danes beyond the Thames and de- 
fended the coast against further devastating inroads. He 
laid foundations for the lasting supremacy of the Enghsh 
when he built a navy and organized a permanent mihtary 
force. Thereafter the king of Wessex was the rallying-point 
of the defence. Long after the house of Cerdic had ceased 
to reign, Alfred was hailed as England's shepherd, Eng- 
land's darling, England's comforter. He is the only one in 
the long line of English kings who have been honored with 
the title of " the Great." 

For Government. — The war against the Danes was not 
Alfred's best service to the land he ruled. Under his 
wise direction, a stable government was estabhshed for 
the kingdom south of the Thames. The realm was ad- 
ministered in districts called shires.^ For each shire, an 
alderman was appointed who was held responsible for 
the execution of the law and the levying of troops for the 
king's service. The sheriff represented the king in the 
local courts, declaring the law and defending the royal in- 
terests. From the decision of the shire court, a nian who 
felt himself injured might appeal to the king. Alfred was 
accustomed to inquire into the wisdom of the sentences 
rendered in his name, and to call to account judges who 
through ignorance or favor had failed to enforce the right. 
Asser tells us how eagerly these officers set to work to study 
the law, and how bitterly they lamented that they had not 
been properly taught in their youth when learning would 
have been easier. Their task was rendered a difficult one 
by the confused and conflicting character of Anglo-Saxon 
law. The ancient customs had been reduced to writing, 
and promulgated as laws by the early kings, but chang- 
ing circumstances had brought new forms into vogue, while 



1 Each shire corresponds to an early settlement, and the shire-moot to 
the folk-moot of a former kingdom; e.g. Kent, Sussex, Dorset, Somerset. 



For Literature 45 

much of the old usage was inapphcable. Alfred under- 
took to simpHfy and reduce to a uniform code the various 
laws and customs that had been sanctioned by his prede- 
cessors. There is little that is new in his " dooms," as he 
himself states in the preamble. " I then, Alfred, king, 
gathered these (laws) together and commanded many of 
those to be written which our forefathers held, those which 
to me seemed good, and many of those which seemed to 
me not good, I rejected them by the counsel of my witan — 
for I durst not venture to set down in writing much of my 
own, for it was unknown to me what of it would please 
those who should come after us." 

The laws of Alfred represent the best wisdom of the 
Anglo-Saxons, but they seem barbaric when compared with 
modern legislation. Penalties were not so much preventive 
as retaliatory. Every crime had its price, and injuries 
must be atoned for by the payment of wer-gild (blood- Wer-gild. 
money). "If a man strike out another's eye let him pay 
60 shilHngs." " If a man strike out another's tooth in the 
front of his head, let him make amends for it with 8 shil- 
lings ; if it be the canine tooth, let 4 shiUings be paid as 
amends. A man's grinder is worth 15 shillings." This was 
rough justice, but it had the effect of checking crime, and 
was perhaps the only means of affording protection to the 
weak in this age of violence. The wer-gild marks an im- 
portant advance on the custom of blood-feud prevailing 
among the Celts. The family of an injured man was still 
bound to exact vengeance, not, however, in blood, but in 
silver. The law determined the money equivalent of the 
wrong; the king enforced the penalty. The methods used 
to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused were 
still primitive. If a man could bring a sufficient num- 
ber of neighbors^ to swear that he had not committed the 
offence, he went free. Failing this, he must undergo the 
ordeal, appealing to God to vindicate the right. 

For Literature. — Alfred was a king by birth and a soldier 

1 This form of trial was known as " compurgation." 



46 Race Elefnents of the English Nation 



Alfred's In- 
troduction to 
Pastoral 
Care. 



Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle. 



by force of circumstances, but nature intended him for a stu- 
dent. Not all the engrossing cares and anxieties of that long 
struggle with the Danes could thwart his scholar's purpose. 
Asser tells us that it was the king's custom " both night and 
day and amid his many other occupations of mind and 
body, either hmiself to read books or to listen whilst others 
read them." He yearned to give to his people the treasures 
of knowledge he found in the ancient writings. Under the 
ardent impulse given by the Irish missionaries, the monas- 
teries of Northumbria had been centres of learning, but they 
had suffered severely during the Danish inroads. Many 
houses had been sacked and burned, and the brethren 
scattered. Knowledge of Latin, the literary tongue, had 
well-nigh perished. Alfred writes mournfully of the lost 
books and treasures. " So clean was learning now fallen off 
among the English race, that there were very few (priests) 
on this side of the Humber that were able to understand 
their service in Enghsh, or even to turn an epistle from Latin 
into English ; and I think that there were not many beyond 
the Humber. So few were there of them that I cannot 
think of even one south of the Thames when I first took the 
kingdom." Alfred did what he could to repair this damage 
by rebuilding churches and convents and founding schools. 
The School of the x\ngle Race at Rome was ^' freed " by 
Pope Marinus, at his request, " from all tribute and tax." 
Learned men were summoned to his court from( all parts of 
England, from Wales, and from the Continent.-^ 

For the instruction of laymen the king determined to 
translate into Anglo-Saxon, the unlettered speech of the 
people, the most useful books he knew. The Psalms, Gos- 
pels, and other portions of the Bible had been already 
translated.^ Alfred chose the Consolation of the philoso- 
pher Boethius, the Pastoj^al Care of Pope Gregory, the 
Universal History of Orosius, and the Ecclesiastical His- 



1 e.g. Plegmund, an Anglo-Saxon ; Asser, a Welshman ; Grimbald, a 
Frank ; John of Saxony, a German. 

2 By the monks of Lindisfarne. 



Reconqiiest of England 47 

tory of the Venerable Bede. He was especially desirous 
that the history of England should be recorded for the use 
of future generations. Something had already been done 
in the rehgious houses, where the monks had set down the 
happenings that came within their ken, an eclipse of the 
moon, a miracle, the accession of a king, the death of a 
saint. But Alfred proposed more than this. Under his 
inspiring guidance the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle^ was enlarged 
and enriched until it became the best of contemporary his- 
tories. Far more important than the immediate ends the 
king had in view was the ultimate result of this work. His 
determination to use the vulgar tongue made English a 
literary language. His translations fixed its form and pre- 
served it from loss in the troubled centuries that were to 
follow. 

For Industry. — Alfred showed a keen concern for the 
material interests of his people, and not a few important 
inventions were attributed to his ingenuity. He planned 
and built not ships and fortresses alone, but churches and 
palaces. The skilled trades were encouraged, and he taught 
"his workers of gold and his artificers of all kinds" how to Assev's Life. 
improve their fabric. As soon as the sea was cleared of 
pirates, trade revived and commercial relations with the 
continent were reestablished. The king received embassies 
from France, from Spain, and even from Jerusalem. His 
daughter, Ethelfryth, was married to the count of Flanders. 
The alliance marks the beginning of a fruitful commerce 
between England and the Low Countries. 

Reconquest of England. — Under Edward the Elder 
(901-925), the worthy son of Alfred, East Anglia, Danish 
Mercia, and Essex were recovered to English rule. The Green, 
king was ably seconded by his sister Ethelflseda, the valiant PP- 84-88. 
" Lady of Mercia." Assuming at the death of her husband Bright, i, 
the task of defending the EngHsh frontier, she quickly took ^o-^S- 
the offensive. Making a sally into Wales, she carried Breck- 

1 This is the earliest attempt of a Teutonic people to record its annals in 
the native tongue. 




Anglo-Saxon Relics of Gold and Bronze 



Reconquest of England 



49 



Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle. 



West Saxon 
supremacy. 



nock by storm. Turning against the Danes, she directed 
in person the siege of Derby, and while weeping woman's 
tears over the four thegns slain within the gates, made her- 
self master of the place. The Danish " army " at Leicester 
swore her allegiance, and the people of York offered to sur- 
render their city to her keeping. Slowly but surely the 
English forces advanced into the enemy's country, laying 
siege to their fortresses, driving the several " armies " from 
their strongholds, while they rebuilt and repeopled the cities 
that had been ruined in the war.^ Edward was welcomed 
as a deliverer by the whole English population ; especially 
did the peasantry " seek his peace and his protection." 

Disheartened by his rapid successes, the Danish jarls one 
after another gave in their submission. Even the Celts recog- 
nized in the king of Wessex the champion of liberty. In 
922 the North Welsh acknowledged his supremacy; two 
years later the Scots and the Welsh of Strathclyde " sought 
him for father and lord." 

The successors of Edward so vigorously maintained the 
West Saxon supremacy that when Edgar came to the throne 
in 959 he was greeted not as king of the Enghsh only, but as 
ruler of all Britain. Tradition has it that he was rowed 
upon the Dee by six Celtic chieftains. His fleet of thirty- 
six hundred stout ships made him master of the sea. The 
reign of Edgar, " the peaceful," marks the culmination of 
the rule of Wessex and of Anglo-Saxon civilization. The 
king, with his able archbishop, Dunstan, worked to secure 
peace and prosperity to the land. The long struggle with 
the Danes had at last done away with the tribal distinctions 
that divided the English, and the ambition of rival dynasties 
was satisfied by grant of the ealdorman's office. The jealousy 
of Welsh and Danes was disarmed by concessions to race 
prejudice. The subjugated peoples were governed by rulers Cunnin 
of their own blood, and in accordance with their ancient Jj^"^^ 
customs. The Welsh remained Celts and alien, retaining 

1 Some thirty places were restored in middle England by the valiant 
brother and sister. 

E _ 



pp. 8-1 1. 



I2I-I29. 



50 Race Elements of tJie English Nation ■■ 

their own language and peculiar tribal organization long 
after they submitted to English overlordship. The funda- 
mental race difference between Celt and Teuton was not 
easily obliterated. With the Danes it was otherwise. They 
were of the same Norse stock as the Jutes and Angles, and 
spoke a kindred language. They had accepted Christianity 
with English rule, and as they settled down upon the land, 
they soon adopted the ways and speech of the English 
inhabitants, and became in their turn enamoured of peace 
and prosperity. 
Traill, 1, Anglo-Saxon Civilization. — The original English settle- 

ments had been made at accessible points along the river- 
courses where a fertile soil promised sustenance, or near 
some old Roman city whose decaying walls afforded build- 
ing material. The barbarians cherished independence, and 
their villages were usually surrounded by wide stretches of 
waste land or forest. Since intercourse with the outside 
world was difficult, every community must be self-supporting. 
Agriculture. — Agriculture was the prime interest to which 
the whole working force of the village was at first devoted. 
The fertile lands were divided into acre and half-acre strips 
and assigned to the several families for tillage, very much as 
is still done in the Russian commune. Each allotment was 
separated from those adjoining by turf-balks or hedges, an 
arrangement that involved much waste of land and labor, 
but seemed the best way of securing to each rman his just 
share. The pastures and meadows were unfenced, and 
every proprietor in the village lands had mowing and graz- 
ing rights therein. Cattle and sheep browsed in the open, 
while droves of swine fed on nuts and roots in the wood- 
land. The beasts were cared for and kept from straying 
into the tilled fields, or getting lost in the forest, by men and 
boys detailed for that service. The oxherds, cowherds, 
swineherds, and shepherds, who looked after the stock of 
the villagers, were maintained at common charge. On large 
estates the same tasks were performed by serfs. 

Manufactures. — As men's wants increased, new industries 



Manufactures 



51 



were developed. Manufactures were at first of the simplest. 
Each village was provided with craftsmen skilled in certain 
trades, — carpenters and thatchers to build the houses, wheel- 
wrights and blacksmiths to set up ploughs and wagons, shoe- 
wrights and saddlers to fashion leather goods. Clothing 




V w^V'^a; 



Upright Loom from the bAkoK IslaiMj^ 

Monteluis, The Civilization of Sweden in Heathen Times 



was manufactured largely by the women, who spun wool and 
flax with spindle and distaff, and wove cloth of gay colors on 
hand-looms. In the towns, some relics of the Roman hand- 
icrafts may have lingered, but the most important centres 
of industry were the monastic establishments. Here the 
arts that might enrich and dignify the ceremonial of worship 
were fostered. Glass-workers were brought over from the 



52 Race Elements of the English Nation 

continent to fill the church windows with radiant light. 
Embroiderers made up gorgeous vestments, and gold-workers 
adorned God's altars with cross and image, or wrought mar- 
vellous shrines for the relics of the saints. The first Saxon 
churches were built of wood, and soon perished by fire or 
by natural decay. Stone-work was not introduced till the 
seventh century, when the Abbot Benedict undertook to 
build a church at Jarrow (680) " in the Roman manner," 
and sought masons in France. 
Traili.l, Trade. — The revival of industries and the growing de- 

201-209. mand for luxuries served to promote trade. Many articles 

that could not be produced at home, such as salt, spices, fine 
cloth, iron, millstones, must be brought from a distance. 
Merchants made their way up the river-courses to the valley 
settlements, and then by the long-disused streets into the 
interior. Market towns were rebuilt at the cross-ways and 
by the river-fords,^ while at the saints' shrines, where men 
gathered on feast days, great fairs were held. Commerce 
over-sea, interrupted by the centuries of warfare, revived 
with the interval of peace secured by the successors of 
Alfred. Gloucester was the meeting-place of Welsh and 
English merchants, Bristol and Chester divided the Irish 
trade, Exeter and the Cinque Ports were in direct communi- 
cation with France. Norwich, Dunwich, Ipswich, and espe- 
cially London, secured the Channel traffic. Commerce 
brought increase of wealth and population t(t) the towns. 
The thirty cities of Alfred's day had become eighty, with 
two hundred thousand inhabitants, by the eleventh century. 
The later Anglo-Saxon kings offered every encouragement 
to commerce. Ample protection was afforded to strange 
"chapmen" sojourning in the land, and Englishmen were 
incited to engage in foreign trade by the law providing that 
" every merchant who fares thrice across the wide sea at his 
own cost is of thegnright worthy." 

Britain exported, as in Roman days, cattle and grain, tin 
and lead, horses and slaves. The addition of certain manu- 

1 e.g. Cambridge and Oxford. 



Political Oi'ganization 53 

factured articles, as gold-work and embroidery, indicates that 
considerable industrial advance had been made in spite of 
five centuries of well-nigh perpetual war. The slaves were 
for the most part the conquered Welsh, but there is evi- 
dence that the slave-trader did not eschew English blood. 
The boys on sale in the Roman market who attracted the 
pitying attention of Pope Gregory, were Angles from Deira. 
Five centuries later the biographer of Wulfstan records that 
" the people of Bristol had an odious and inveterate custom 
of buying men and women in all parts of England, and 
exporting them to Ireland for gain." The church used its 
influence to discourage slavery. St. Patrick condemned the 
practice of selHng Christians to the pagan English, and the 
laws of Ine (688-726) forbade that "Christian men and Thorpe, 
uncondemned be sold out of the country, especially into a P' ^^'^\ 

•^ Alfred, 

heathen nation. p. 47. 

Political Organization. — The Anglo-Saxon system of Traill, i, 
government came to its full development under Edgar. ^34-i4o- 
The king had become the supreme authority, not only in 
mihtary but in civil affairs. He presided in the Witenage- 
mot, the assembly of wise men (thegns, ealdormen, and bish- Bright, I, 
ops), summoned to advise the king and to legislate for the 28-36. 
realm. The kingdom was grown too extensive for the assem- 
bly of the whole body of freemen as in the ancient folk-moot. 
The troubled years of the Danish invasions had witnessed a Commenda- 
decHne in the status of the ceorl or small landowner. Unable ^^o"- 
to defend his possessions single-handed, he was fain to 
attach himself to the mihtary leader of his neighborhood, 
surrendering somewhat of his personal independence in 
return for the promised protection. By Edgar's law, the 
practice was made obligatory. Every man below the rank 
of thegn must find himself a lord who should be responsible 
for him. 

A considerable degree of popular government persisted 
side by side with the growth of the royal authority. Every 
village had its tungemot, where the heads of houses met to 
determine affairs of common interest, the number of cattle 



54 Race Elements of the English Nation 

each man might turn into the common pasture, the time when 
the hay should be cut or the corn-fields reaped. Each tun 
sent its reeve and four best men to the hundred court, where 
minor offences and disputes between men of the hundred were 
dealt with. The same representatives met in the shire-court 
with the greater folk of the county, and there more serious of- 
fences and cases appealed from the hundred court were tried 
in the presence of the ealdorman, the bishop, and the king's 
reeve. 






Glass Vases 

De Baye, Industrial Arts of the Anglo-Saxons 



Important Events 

The Roman Occupation, 43-41 1 a.d. 

Caesar invades Britain, 55 and 54 B.C. 

Agricola conquers Britain, 78-84 a.d. 

Honorius abandons the province, 41 1 a.d. 
The Saxon Conquest, 449-607 a.d. 

The Jutes take possession of Kent, 449+ • 

The Saxons take possession of Sussex, Wessex, Essex, 477 + . 

The Angles take possession of Northumbria, East Anglia, 
Lindiswara, Mercia. 

The Britons are defeated at Mt. Badon, 520 ; at Deorham, 
577 ; at Chester, 607. 



Important Events 55 

The Triumph of Christianity. 

Monastery at lona founded by Columba, 565. 
Ethelbert of Kent converted by Augustine, 597. 
Edwin of Northumbria converted by Paulinus, 627. 
West Saxons converted by Birinus, 635. 
Penda of Mercia accepts Christianity, 655. 
The Roman ritual is adopted, 664. 
Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, 668-690. 
South Saxons converted by Wilfrid, 681. 

The Strong Kings of Wessex. 

Egbert attains to overlordship, 802-839. 

Alfred establishes a kingdom, 871-901. 

Edward recovers lost territories, 901-925. 

Edgar, the Peaceful, emperor of Britain, 959-975. 
Saxon Elements in the People and Institutions of 
England. 

Dominant race element. 

Framework and most essential portions of the language. 

The common law. 

Conception and form of local self-government. 

National characteristics of independence and pertinacity. 



CHAPTER III 

FOREIGN RULE 

Books for Consultation 

Sources 

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 
Florence of Worcester. 
Henry of Huntingdon. 
Ordericus Vitalis. 
Eadmer, Historia Novorum. 

Special Authorities 

Anderson, Norse Mythology. 

Johnson, Normans in Europe. 

Church, St. Anseltn. 

Freeman, Norman Conquest, abridged edition. 

Imaginative Literature 

Yonge, The Little Duke. 

Bulwer, Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings. 
Kingsley, Hereward the Wake, the Last of the English. 
Tennyson, Harold. N 

Rossetti, The White Ship. 

Johnson, Migrations of the Northmen. — Little is known of the 

pp. 1-14. early history of the Scandinavian peninsulas whence came 

the conquerors of England. To the Saxon chronicler, re- 
counting the long and losing struggle against the Danes, the 
invaders are wild barbarians for whom no epithet is too 
scathing. They are "wolves," "foxes," "pagans," "chil- 
dren of Satan." Yet the Scandinavians were near of kin to 
the English and possessed the best characteristics of the 
Teuton inheritance. The bitter struggle for existence in a 

56 



Normandy 57 

land that was one-third water and one-third mountain, and 
where winter lasted six months of the year, had bred in them 
endurance, ingenuity, and daring. In the course of the 
ninth century the people seem to have grown too numerous 
for the resources of the scant coast-lands, and the more 
enterprising spirits set out to seek their fortunes in the richer 
realms to the south. The results of that exodus were mo- Johnson, 
mentous. We have seen how the Danes possessed them- PP- ^5-3i- 
selves of northern England. In like manner Swedish 
war-bands ravaged the coasts of the Baltic, and, making 
their way inland to Novgorod and to Kiev, founded the 
ancient dynasty of Russia.^ The Norwegians, on the other 
hand, pushed westward and possessed themselves of the out- 
lying islands of the Atlantic. The Orkneys, the Shetlands, 
and the north coast of Scotland formed a Viking kingdom 
that was held in fief of Norway until the fourteenth century. 
Farther west, the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, Anglesea, and 
the neighboring Scotch and Irish shores were united in a 
maritime empire whose vaUant princes^ held their own 
until, in 1281, their dominions were annexed to Scotland. 

Continental Settlements. — Throughout the ninth and 
tenth centuries, France and Germany were ravaged by Norse 
pirates. The Rhine, the Elbe, the Scheldt, the Seine, and 
the Loire were the open highways by which the black keels 
of the barbarians made their way to the rich farm lands and 
populous cities of the interior. Smoking houses and bloody Johnson, 
battlefields marked their track. Legend records that the PP- S^-SS- 
great Charlemagne gazed ruefully upon their swift craft and 
predicted the ruin of his empire.^ In the Litany service 
the terrified clergy inserted a special prayer, " From the fury 
of the Northmen, save us. Lord." 

Normandy. — As in England, so on the Continent, the 
war-bands, coming at first for booty, soon sought permanent 
homes. Numerous scattered settlements along the rivers 
of Gaul may still be traced in local terminology. The most 

1 Rurik, the Varangian, was chosen king by the Muscovites in 862. 

2 The Lords of the Isles. ^ So the monk of St. Gall. 



y 



70 



\ 
/ 



' MIGRATIONS OF THE ' 

KOKTHMEIS^ 

SCALE OF ENGLISH MILES 
70 140 210 280 360 420 



\ 



Empire of Canute \ '<''''/ ^A 

Iforman Settlements f.ySS^ 




BuRMAY 4 CC/.,ENGR'S,N.Y. 



Normandy 59 

important conquest made on the Continent, and the only 
one where the Norse retained race integrity, was the 
domain of Rollo the Ganger,^ on the west coast. This Johnson, 
mightv warrior succeeded in wresting from Charles the PP- 35-37. 
Simple, the degenerate descendant of Charlemagne, and Map of Nor- 
king of the West Franks, a grant of the strip of territory at mandy, 
the mouth of the Seine called thereafter Normandy. As ^^"^' 
duke of the Normans, the conqueror swore fealty to the 
PVankish king and became his trusty vassal. Once recog- 
nized as a peer ^ of France, Rollo accepted Christianity, 
married a French princess, and set about governing his new 
subjects with such discretion that the whilom pirate became 
known as the father of his people. The lands were divided 
among his followers as spoils of conquest.^ Thus the war- 
riors became vassals of the duke, holding their estates 
under obligation to military service, while the natives, being 
regarded as a subject race, were treated as serfs. At first Johnson, 
the Norse Vikings despised the Romanized and degenerate ggfouruy, 
Franks. Absorbed in hunting and feasting in making war Middle Ages, 
upon a neighboring lord to extend a boundary, or upon the P- ^58. 
duke to resist a claim, they contemptuously declined to 
concern themselves with such slave's business as agriculture 
and the arts. Yet gradually the superior civiHzation gained 
influence over the conquerors. They married Frankish 



1 The Norman dukes : — 



Rollo the Ganger, 912-927 
William Longsword, 927 ?-943 
Richard the Fearless, 943-996 



Richard II, the Good, 996-1026 Emma, m. Ethelred of England 



Richard III, 1026-1028 Robert, 1028-1035 

William I, 1035-1087 

2 Peers {pares) were vassals of the same suzerain, holding fiefs of land 
in his domain of equal rank. 

3 Literally " roped out." 



6o Foreign Rule 

women and adopted Prankish customs, they learned the 

Franco-Latin language with such facility that the grandson 

of Rollo could be taught to speak Scandinavian only at 

Bayeux. F^ntering the awe-inspiring Christian churches, 

they forswore the fierce gods of their ancestors. They 

came under the sway of the clergy and received at their 

hands not only a purer religion and a higher morahty than 

Norse mythology taught them, but the conceptions of right 

and order preserved in the Roman law, the traditions of 

learning and literature treasured in the monasteries. So 

it followed that within the century after the conquest, the 

wild Northmen became essentially French. While losing 

nothing of their original valor and energy, they assimilated 

with marvellous readiness the best elements in the civihza- 

tion of the conquered race. 

Green, The Danes in England. — Meantime, across the Channel, 

PP- 93> 94- other Norse Vikings were mastering a kingdom. The re- 

Bright, I, newal of the Danish invasions beo;an in 081 with an attack 
15-19. 

on Southampton. For the next thirty years " armies " from 

the north harried the English coast, burning the towns and 
slaughtering the inhabitants. Not infrequently the North- 
men forced the terrified people to provide them with horses, 
and sweeping far into the interior, plundered and killed and 
Anglo-Saxon did " unspeakable evil." They met with little concerted 
Ckronicie. resistance. The good days of Alfred and Edward were 
Etheli-ed P^st. Ethelred the Unready,^ the degenerate son of Edgar, 

the Unready, yvas not equal to the emergency. He could Wot rally the 
English to unite against the foe. Each shire preferred to 
fight its own battle, and the national force, the fyrd, was 
with difficulty induced to remain under arms over the har- 
vest. The ealdormen who should have led their troops to 
the defence of the realm were jealous of each other and 
disloyal to the king. Again and again did a commander 
betray his trust on the very eve of battle. The Chronicle 
tells a tale of shame. *' And forces were often gathered 
against the Danes, but as soon as they should have joined 

1 The old English term is " reckless," i.e. lacking in counsel. 




eORUAY & CO.,CNSR'S,N.Y. 



62 



Foreign Ride 



The 
Danegeld, 



Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle. 



Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle. 



Green, 
pp. 94-97. 
Bright, I, 
19-21. 



battle, then was there ever, through some cause, flight 
begun." London alone offered strenuous resistance. The 
citizens stood bravely by their defences even when beset by 
the whole Danish army, and their strong walls afforded 
refuge to the king himself. Unable to defend his realm by 
force of arms, Ethelred was fain to purchase an inglorious 
peace.^ Five times in twenty years was tribute paid to the 
army, and that in sums which taxed all the resources of the 
nation. "And nevertheless, for all the truce and tribute, 
they went everywhere in bands and plundered our miserable 
people and robbed and slew them." Swegen, the Norse 
leader, was bent on conquering a kingdom. The northern 
districts (Northumbria, Lindsey, and the five boroughs) 
were still Danish in blood and feeling, and readily submitted 
(1013). South of Watling Street, there was further fighting, 
but the strong cities surrendered one by one, the ealdormen 
and leading thegns went over to Swegen, and finally "all the 
people held him for full king." Not till every hope of suc- 
cess had failed did the citizens of London yield (1013). 
After that, King Ethelred fled over-sea to Richard, Duke 
of Normandy, whose sister Emma he had wedded." 

The Reign of Canute. — In 1014 Swegen died, and the 
strife broke out afresh, for the Danes chose his son Canute 
as king, while the Witan and the English declared for Ethel- 
red. The house of Cerdic found a worthy champion in 



1 The Danegeld was levied in 991, ^10,000; in 994, ;^i6,ooo; in 1002, 
;^24,ooo; in 1007, ^^36,000; in iioi, ^48,000; in 1014, ^21,000; money 
had at that time twenty times its present value. 

2 Ethelred, m. Emma of Normandy 
I 

Edmund Ironside. Edward the Confessor 



Edmund 



Edward 



Edgar Atheling 



Margaret, m. king of Scots 
Matilda, m. Henry I 



Renezved Strife 63 

Edmund Ironside. Six pitched battles were fought in seven 

months, and in four the EngHsh were victorious, but at the 

last great battle of Assingdun (10 16) the treachery of Edric, Assingdun, 

the ealdorman, lost the day. Then the wise men counselled ^°^^- 

a compromise, for the land was exhausted by civil strife. 

Edmund was to reign in Wessex, the kingdom of Egbert, 

while to Canute was conceded Mercia and the north. A 

few days after peace had been declared Edmund was foully 

assassinated by the same Edric who had fled from the field 

at Assingdun, and Canute fell heir to the whole kingdom. 

Peace Policy of Canute. — Canute had waged war Hke a 
barbarian, but he ruled England as a Christian king. The 
plundering army of freebooters was sent back to Denmark, 
and the alien monarch retained for his defence only a body- 
guard of several thousand huscarls} A general amnesty Anglo-Saxon 
was declared, and it was agreed that all the people, Danes Chronicle. 
and EngUsh alike, were to " live under Edgar's law." The 
administration of the several divisions of the kingdom was 
assigned to trusty lieutenants without distinction of race.^ 
That his was a foreign rule was made evident, however, in 
the heavy tribute imposed. In 10 18, for example, the king 
required ^7 2,000 from the realm. The city of London ^lone 
was forced to pay ;2£io,5oo. Canute's marriage with Emma, 
the widow of Ethelred, established a useful connection, not 
only with the fallen dynasty, but with the house of Rollo 
and the powerful duchy across the Channel. The realm 
of Canute had now attained imperial dimensions. Denmark 
and Norway acknowledged his sovereignty, while the king 
of Scots (1031) renewed the oath of homage first given to 
Edward the Elder. 

Renewed Strife. — Canute's empire fell to pieces at his Green^ 
death. His sons, Harold and Harthacanute, disputed the Edgh^l^^' 
succession, and the unhappy land was once again plunged 21-24. 
into civil war. There was httle to choose between the two 
princes. Both proved themselves cruel and oppressive be- 

1 Huscarls (house-men), the king's mercenary troops. 

2 For the old title of ealdorman is now substituted the Danish term, earl. 



64 



Foreign Rule 



Johnson, 
pp. 115-122. 



Godmn. 



Harold. 



Anglo-Saxon 

Chronicle 

1052. 



yond precedent and imposed heavy taxes for the support 
of the Danish troops. Thus, when Harthacanute died and 
young Edward, son of Ethelred and Emma, came to Eng- 
land to claim the throne, he was received with joy and 
crowned king forthwith. The rejoicing was premature. 
Edward, called the Confessor, because of his piety, proved 
but a feeble king. Educated at the court of Rouen, he was 
more French than English, and brought with him to Eng- 
land a crowd of Norman priests and nobles. The difficul- 
ties of the reign were largely due to this foreign influence 
at court. Edward owed his crown to Godwin, Earl of 
Wessex, the stalwart champion of the English. In return, 
the king, married Edgitha, the daughter of the great earl, 
and placed his sons in the chief offices. Godwin was able 
and patriotic, but he was only foremost of the earls. None 
but a strong king could unite the warring factions and give 
peace to the realm. In the absence of such a master, the 
kingdom was rent by civil strife. The lesser earls raised 
frequent pretexts for revolt, and such rebels against the royal 
authority found ready help in Wales and Ireland, among the 
ever hostile Celts. Norse pirates pillaged the coast towns, 
taking enormous booty which they carried over to Bruges 
for sale. The Norman courtiers preyed upon the land, in 
their more civilized fashion, demanding entertainment at the 
hands of the Enghsh as from a subject people. Far from 
rebuking his favorites, the king countenanced their misdeeds. 
Finally, in 105 1, Godwin and his sons were forced to flee 
the kingdom, and Lady Edgitha was driven from the court. 
In the year following, the great earl returned to claim his 
own. The English party was strong in the south, and the 
seaports of Kent and Sussex and Surrey sent their sailor-folk 
to join Earl Godwin's fleet. From the west came his valiant 
son Harold with Irish ships. Accompanied by a great force, 
the outraged earl sailed up the river to London. There he 
found the king's troops marshalled on the strand, but the an- 
ticipated battle did not take place. The leaders were struck 
by a sudden shame. Why should Englishmen slay English- 




BORMAY 4 CO.,ENGR'S,N.Y. 



66 



Foreign Rule 



men when aliens threatened the reahn? The wise men 
arranged a reconcihation. Godwin's family was reinstated, 
and all the Frenchmen who had given evil counsel to the 
king were sent over-sea. 

Hardly had this hopeful peace been attained when the 
great earl died. Harold succeeded to his earldom and 
to his perplexities. Godwin's son Tostig had been ap- 
pointed Earl of Northumbria, but he was unequal to the 
government of that turbulent land. The Danish thanes 
declared him an outlaw and chose Morcar, a Mercian, in 




Harold and his Courtiers 

From the Bayeux tapestries 



his stead. Hopeless of reinstating him, the king yielded 
(1065) to the demands of the insurgents. Tostig fled to 
Bruges, where he was cordially received by that friend of 
the malcontents, Count Baldwin of Flanders. With all 
these evils Harold strove as best he might, and proved 
himself so valiant in the field and so wise in council that 
when Edward died childless (January 5, 1066) the Witan 
chose the son of Godwin to succeed him. 

The Disputed Succession. — Harold was not of the royal 
line, but he was, in the judgment of the Witan, the fittest 
man to reign. Although Edgar Atheling, grandson of 
Edmund Ironside, might claim the crown by hereditary 
right, no voice was raised in his behalf. The election was, 
however, protested from across the Channel. William, 



The Conquest ^7 

Duke of Normandy, grand-nephew of Emma de,r,anded Johnson.^ 
the succession. His claims were various. Edward naa ^^^_^^^^ 
nromised to make his Norman cousin heir to the crown ; oreen, 
Cd wrecked on the French -ast -d dehvere mto pp. .3... 
the hands of his rival, had sworn on the sacred relics to » 
surrender all rights to the throne ; finally the Pope, offended ;_^,. 
bTEngUsh disregard of pontifical rights,^ and persuaded tha 
William was a faithful son of the church, sanctioned his 
succession and sent a consecrated banner to i-rthe^ tj 
rrnsade against the impious oath-breaker. The choice ot 
Te wLn'U worth m'ore than all these argu« b^i Oree._^^^. 
William's right, as justified by the event, -^^ "° "^^ 
promise, nor Harold's oath, nor yet the papal blessing, but 
thnbiUty to govern with a strong hand this kingdom long 

wasted by civil war. , , 

Harold was a brave and loyal Enghshman, but he could 
not induce the warring earls to unite against the invader. 
At the very time when the king with a great force of men 
and ships was awaiting the advent of the Normans on the 
outh coast, Tostig, the banished Earl of Northumbna hav- 
ing found allies in Scotland and Norway, sailed up the Hum- 
be'r and attacked the northern earls. The king was obhged 
to march north in their - defence ; and, *-gh Tos § -s 
slain at Stamford Bridge (September 20 1066) ""d Jus army 
put to flight, the battle proved the ruin of *e English Hm:- 
^,ing south again with a weakened for. Ha.ld found^the 

IZZ. r WiSllv"arin the wild rout of Senlac Se„.e,.. 

no maicii lu tt,,.„1j „„a his brothers were slain. 

Hill (October 14, 1066), Harold anams u 

and the cause of the English was lost. 

The Conquest. - Not yet, however, was the kingdom won 

The Duke of Normandy had still to reckon with the Eng 

hsh people When the news of Harold's defeat reached 
Londo'te Witan assembled and elected Edgar A*ehng 
king. Realizing that a show of force was necessary, Wilham 
1 Havo>d opposed the growing power of the n^onks, and his Archbishop 
Stigand recognized the authority of an anti-pope. 




William's Fleet crossing the Channel 




Flight of the English 

Cuts from the Bayeux Tapestry 



The Conquest 



69 



marched through Kent and Sussex, ravaging the lands of 
those who opposed him, up to the very gates of London. 
He hesitated to lay siege to the city, for he wished to pre- 
sent himself not as conqueror but as rightful successor to 
the crown. His forbearance was soon justified. The citi- 
zens of London, seeing that the northern earls made no 
movement in their behalf, opened the gates to the Norman 
and went through the form of electing him king. William 
was crowned on Christmas Day, 1066, in the beautiful abbey 
built by the Confessor at Westminster.^ He took oath to 
" govern the English people as well as any king before him Anglo-Saxon 
had best done, if they would be faithful to him." William Chronicle. 
doubtless meant what he said. If the pledge was later 
broken and he showed himself stern, masterful, and indif- 
ferent to the suffering wrought by his soldiers, it was because 
the Enghsh revolted against his authority. 

When William was crowned king, only the southeastern Green, 
shires acknowledged his right to reign. The west and north P^' "°-"7- 
held out for Edgar. The Danelagh was difficult to subdue, 
and now, as many times before and after, resistance was re- 
enforced by the restless Welsh and Scots. For the better 
defence of his kingdom, William established viceregal juris- Bright, I, 
dictions in the disaffected districts, where his most trusted ^3-48. 
friends were placed in authority. Thus his half-brother, 
Odo, was made Earl of Kent, that he might be enabled to 
ward off attacks from across the Channel. Fitz-Osborn was 
made Earl of Plereford, and he, with the Earls of Chester 
and Shrewsbury, was expected to hold Wales in check.^ 
Durham was the seat of a fifth great earldom which served 
as bulwark against interference from the north. The subju- Traill, i, 
gation of the rebelHous English occupied the years from 1067 ^31-235- 
to 1070. Mercia and Northumbria were reduced to submis- 
sion only by the severest measures. The insurgent districts 

1 Henceforth the kings of England were regularly crowned at West- 
minster. 

2 Many lesser men obtained royal license to conquer lands from the 
Welsh, and establishing themselves in strongholds along the border, be- 
came known as the Lords Marchers. 



70 Foreign Rule 

were punished (1069) for their loyalty to the English earls, 
by what was long remembered as the " wasting of the North." 
William gave orders that the land should be ravaged by fire 
and sword. Cities and villages were reduced to ashes and 
the crops destroyed. The helpless inhabitants were slaugh- 
tered or left to die of starvation. For fifty years to come, 
Yorkshire remained a wilderness. The wasted coast oiTered 
no booty to pirates, and the Danish invasions finally ceased. 

The fame of Norman cruelty and Norman prowess pre- 
ceded the king even to the frontiers of his terrified kingdom. 
Chester and the Welsh border submitted after brief resist- 
ance, and Malcolm, king of Scotland, acknowledged William 
as his overlord (1072). 

The unhappy Edgar took refuge at Edinburgh together 
with many other Enghsh refugees. The marriage of his 
sister Margaret to King Malcolm marks the beginning of a 
strong English influence at the court of Scotland. Hence- 
forth Lothian,^ originally a part of Northumbria and still 
largely Saxon in blood and speech, made rapid advance in 
civilization. The Highlands remained pure Celt and bar- 
barous. 
Bright, I, Hereward the Wake. — The last stronghold of the Eng- 

50-55- lish resistance was the Isle of Ely, lying inaccessible in the 

heart of the Fens. Here the Saxon malcontents rallied under 
the leadership of Hereward the Wake, who defended his 
island fortress with desperate but unavailing courage. 

Reign of William I (1066-1087). — The pieople so con- 
quered must now be held in subjection. In the task of 
governing his newly acquired kingdom, William proved 
himself preeminent in statecraft as he had hitherto been in 
war. He was most desirous of ruling as a lawful English 
sovereign, but the chaotic condition of the country neces- 
sitated a method of government hardly to be distinguished 
from a mihtary occupation. The estates of the vanquished 
Saxon thanes were confiscated and made over to the Nor- 

1 The moorland country lying north of Tweed and south of the Firth of 
Forth. 



Reign of William I 



n 



man nobles, whose interests were identified with the interest 
of the king, and who could be relied upon to crush any 
incipient revolt on the part of the English. Some twenty 
thousand Frenchmen thus stepped into the places of as 
many Saxon landowners. William further guaranteed his 




Tower of London 



authority against Saxon and Norman alike by building, in 
all the principal towns, castles which he garrisoned with his 
own men. Many of these are still standing, notably the 
strong Tower of London. 

The Conqueror meant that the royal authority should be 



Tower of 
London. 



"J 2 Foreign Rule 

supreme through the length and breadth of the land. Eng- 
land had known no such kingship, not even in the days of 
Edgar. The great thanes, assembled in the Witan, had been 
accustomed to make laws for the nation, having power to 
elect and even to depose the king, but William and his suc- 
cessors rejected the Anglo-Saxon type of monarchy. In their 
interpretation the king was not the elected leader and repre- 
sentative of his people, but lord of the land and master of 
its inhabitants. Succession to the throne was henceforth 
by inheritance as to a private estate. With such concep- 
tions of the royal office, the form of election must soon 
lapse. 

William could not allow to any subject such power as 
had been wielded by Godwin and Harold. He soon abol- 
ished the great earldoms, with exception of Chester, Shrews- 
bury, and Durham. To a few favored followers were granted 
large estates, but these were scattered piecemeal in different 
parts of the country. The king reserved to himself the 
lion's share of the confiscated territories, and never rehn- 
quished his prerogative as conqueror and original proprietor. 
Bright, I, In granting lands to his vassals William made the most of 
36-38, his opportunity to impose more stringent conditions than 

had been customary in England or even in Normandy. 
Every vassal paid an annual rent, not, however, in money, 
but in mihtary service. The specific terms of his tenure 
depended upon his rank and the extent of his fief. If the 
tenant failed in his duty, the grant might be recalled. In 
this way every great lord was bound to send his contingent 
Johnson, to the king's army. The feudal relation — by which we are 
pp. 96-110. to understand the reciprocal obligations of lord and vassal, 
the lord granting land and protection, the vassal giving a 
stipulated service — prevailed throughout the Middle Ages 
both in England and on the Continent. It was the charac- 
teristic social tie not only between sovereign and tenant-in- 
chief, but between the king's vassals and their subtenants, 
between the subtenants and their dependents. King William 
did not introduce the feudal bond into his English posses- 



Reign of William I 73 

sions/ but he put upon it a new interpretation. Under his 
vigorous administration feudahsm became a poHtical system 
that brought the wealth and fighting force of every land- 
owner in the country under the king's control. In a great 
military concourse held at Salisbury (1086), William obliged The Oath of 
"all the landowners that were of account over all England" ^aUsbury. 
to take the oath of fealty to himself in person. Every 
man knelt before him, and placing his hands between those 
of his sovereign swore '' to be faithful to the king before all 
other men." So did the astute Norman check the tendency 
to disintegration that was the bane of continental feudalism. 
While this oath was observed, no powerful vassal could 
gather his dependents to make war against the common 
overlord. 

All tenants-in-chief were summoned to meet the king in a 
great council three times a year, at Christmas, at Easter, 
and at Whitsuntide. This was apparently a continuation of 
the Witenagemot, and indeed the old name was for some 
time retained. It was, however, no longer a meeting of wise 
men, the counsellors of the king, but of principal landowners 
who came in feudal array, not to advise their sovereign, but 
to render homage. With this change in character the 
authority of the assembly dwindled. The administration of 
the government was in the hands of the king's officers and 
the legislative and judicial functions of the Witenagemot 
were soon absorbed by the Curia Regis.^ 

In order that he might be fully informed as to the re- Traill. I, 
sources of his new domain, the king had a rent-roll compiled 236-238.' 
— the so-called Domesday Survey. This was at one and Domesday 
the same time a census, a land register, and an assessment Book. 
of property values, and the record remains of the highest 
utility to historians. This concern for accurate knowledge 
of his realm is a mark of William's statesmanship, but the 

1 We have seen that the relation existed in Saxon times as a personal 
bond between king and thegn, thegn and ceorl, landowner and serf. 

2 The Curia Regis was the supreme court of justice presided over by the 
king's chief minister, entitled the justiciar. 



74 Foreign Rule 

inquiry was deeply resented by Englishmen of that day, 
since it heralded taxation. Edward the Confessor" had 
abolished the Danegeld, but it was reimposed by the Con- 
queror, and at three times the former rate. 

The Salisbury Oath and the Domesday Survey marked the 
climax of the Conqueror's work in England. He had suc- 
ceeded, for the time being, in bringing men of all ranks 
and races to acknowledge the duty of primary allegiance to 
the king. The next year he was engaged in war with his 
own overlord, Phihp of France. At the siege of Mantes 
he received an injury from which he soon after died. 
Green, William Rufus (1087-1100). — In accordance with the 

pp- 117-119- Conqueror's will, his eldest son Robert^ succeeded him in 
Normandy, William, the second son, became king of Eng- 
land, while to Henry Beauclerc, the scholar of the family, 
was left a sum of ^5000 and some private estates. 

William H had inherited all the evil traits of his father, 
with none of the good. His greed was restrained by no sense 
of justice, his impetuous will was guided by no statesmanlike 
foresight. His kingship was merely an opportunity for indulg- 
ing to the full his fierce and unbridled passions. Ranulf, the 
Bright, I, justiciar, was his able accomplice. This man, nicknamed 
56-60. Flambard, " the firebrand," had won the favor of his royal 

patron by his ingenuity in devising new pretexts for wringing 
money from the reluctant purses of the king's subjects. In 
accordance with the continental version of the relations be- 
tween lord and vassal, the king had the entire control of 
the estates of a minor and might appropriate the income. 
On coming of age the heir must pay a large sum of money 
(relief) for the privilege of entering upon his inheritance. 

1 The Norman kings : — 

William I, 1066-1087 



Robert William II, Henry I, 1100-1135 Adela.m. Stephen of Blois 

1087-1100 I I 

Matilda, m. Geoffrey of Anjou Stephen, 1135-1 154 

Henry II, 1154-1189 



William Rufiis 



75 



If the heir were a woman, the king could marry her to 
whomsoever he would. Choice of a husband was only 
conceded to the woman or her relatives on payment of 
a heavy fine. If there were no heirs or in case a vassal were 
convicted of felony, the estate lapsed (escheated) to the 
crown. Certain extraordinary " aids " might be demanded The aids. 
on the marriage of 
the king's eldest 
daughter, on the 
knighting of his 
eldest son, or, in 
case he was taken 
captive, for his 
ransom. All these 
services may be 
justified as medi- 
seval forms of rent, 
and they were in 
turn required by 
the king's vassals 
of their subten- 
ants. Under a 
just administra- 
tion they were not 
exorbitant, but the 
Red King and 
Ranulf, ignoring 
all right and pre- 
cedent, set no 
bounds to their 
merciless greed. 
Their exactions 

fell most heavily upon the great Norman barons, and were 
by them promptly resented. Under the lead of Odo, Bishop 
of Bayeux, they revolted and declared for Robert, Duke of 
Normandy, the elder brother. The king in his extremity 
turned to his English subjects (1088), promising them to 




Effigy of a Norman Knight in Armor 



76 Foreign Rule 

abide by the English laws and to forbid all unjust imposts. 
They responded to his appeal and furnished the force of 
twenty thousand men with which the attack of the barons 
was repulsed. The revolt once suppressed, however, the 
king renewed his cruel practices. In this only did he keep 
his promise of good government : he allowed no tyranny 
but his own. 
Green, Henry I (1100-1135). — In iioo, William Rufus was 

pp. 118-125; Y^X^di while hunting in the New Forest, and Henry Beauclerc 
MiQ ' ' ^^^ chosen king. This wise prince had shown himself an 
able ruler in his little Norman province, and his accession 
brought a much needed peace to England. The king 
desired first of all to be on good terms with his English 
subjects. With this in view he married Edgyth, the niece 
of Edgar the Athehng and daughter of the king of Scots.^ 
Her name, which was impossible to a French tongue, was 
changed to Matilda. The Norman courtiers gave to the 
Saxon princess but a grudging w^elcome ; they mocked the 
popular sympathies of the king and queen by giving them 
the homely English names, Godrich and Godiva. But 
Anglo-Saxon Henry recked nothing of their merriment. He had "prom- 
Ckromcle. .^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^y^ ^^^ people to put down all the injustices 
that were in his brother's time, and to maintain the best 
laws that stood in any king's day before him." The charter, 
granted at his accession, became the model for all subse- 
quent guarantees of good government. The; Red King's 
justiciar, Ranulf, was thrown into the Tower of London, and 
Bright, I, such officers were appointed as would rightly administer the 
74-76. government. The local courts of the shire and hundred 

were restored, and the King's agents made the regular circuits 
through the land to execute justice and collect the royal 
revenues.^ Law and order were so far maintained that King 
Henry was called the Lion of Justice. Yet the imposts 

1 This alliance brought the Normans into friendly relations with the Scotch 
court. Edgyth's brothers renewed the oath of homage to the king of 
England. 

^xhese were the itinerant justices who visited the shire courts to assess 
taxes and administer the laws. 



Stephen yy 

levied in his name weighed heavily upon the people, and Anglo-Saxon 
the Ch?'o?iicle bitterly complains of the sore oppression of ^^^o^^^^^' 
the land. The malcontent nobles leagued against him. Bright I 
Flambard, who had escaped from the Tower, and Robert 72-74. 
of Belleme, the powerful Earl of Shrewsbury, concerted with 
Robert of Normandy a revolt against the king, purposing 
to place Duke Robert on the throne. Rallying to his aid 
the English and the lesser vassals, Henry worsted his foes. 
In the decisive battle of Tinchebrai (1106), the two Roberts 
were taken prisoners, and Normandy came into the posses- 
sion of the English king. Duke Robert lingered out his 
days a captive in Cardiff Castle, and the Norman nobles, 
deprived of pretext for revolt, never again lifted hand against 
Henry. In 1135 this good king died, and the land fell a 
prey to civil war. 

Stephen (11 35-1 154). — The barons had promised the Green, 
dying Henry to place his daughter Matilda on the throne; PP; ^^9-131; 
but the kingdom was a turbulent one to be ruled by a ^^.ss.' 
woman, and the influence of her foreign husband, Geoffrey 
of Anjou, was dreaded by the English. There was a rival 
claimant, Stephen of Blois, son of the Conqueror's daughter 
Adela. His cause was championed by the. citizens of 
London, who hoped that he would be able to maintain the 
peace and good order so essential to commercial prosperity. 
Stephen was chosen king by the barons and soon after 
crowned at Westminster. But the hope of the Londoners 
was doomed to disappointment. In 1140, Matilda came 
to England to urge her claims. Her cause was supported 
by divers of the great nobles, who were, however, less con- 
cerned to maintain her right than to defy the royal authority. 
The weak, unstable character of Stephen gave them favorable 
opportunity to assert their independence. *'When the Anglo-Saxon 

traitors perceived that he was a mild man and soft and good Chronicle, 

1 1 '^7 
and did no justice, then did they all wonder. . . . Every 

powerful man built himself castles and held them against 

the king and they filled the land full of castles. They 

cruelly oppressed the wretched men of the land with castle- 



78 



Foreig7i Rule 



works. When the castles were made they filled them with 
devils and evil men. Then took they those men that they 
imagined had any property, both by night and by day, 
peasant men and women, and put them in prison for their 
gold and their silver, and tortured them with unutterable 
torture. . . . Many thousands were killed with hunger ; and 




Rochester Castle : 

Britton, Picturesque Antiquities of the English Cities 

that lasted the nineteen years while Stephen was king, and 
ever it was worse and worse. They laid imposts on the 
towns continually and called it ' censerie ' ; when the wretched 
men had no more to give, they robbed and burned all the 
towns, so that thou mightest well go all a day's journey and 
thou shouldst never find a man sitting in a town or the land 
tilled. Corn, flesh, and cheese there was none in the land. 
. . . Men said openly that Christ and his saints slept." 
The anarchy of these miserable years taught the English a 



Social Results of the Conquest 



79 



long-needed lesson, that there could be no peace or pros- 
perity except the king was strong enough to enforce the 
laws. 

Stephen made slow headway against the rebellion. He 
did not seek the support of the English as Henry had done, 
but fooHshly spent his treasure in hiring foreign mercenaries, 
who were even more cruel than the barons, and alienated 
the people from the royal cause. Still Matilda could not 
win the kingdom. In the battle of Lincoln (1140) Stephen 
was taken prisoner, and for a few months Henry's daughter 
triumphed ; but she proved to be a harsh and vengeful 
mistress. London revolted, and the great barons renewed 
their allegiance to Stephen. The Angevin cause seemed 
all but lost when it was taken up and brought to a trium- 
phant issue by Matilda's son, the young Henry Plantagenet.^ Henry 
Though but nineteen years of age, this prince was already of Anjou. 
lord of Normandy, Maine, Anjou, and Aquitaine, and ruled 
these restless provinces with a strong hand. Arriving in 
England in 1153, he rallied his mother's adherents about 
him and made such rapid progress that Stephen was fain to 
treat for peace. A compromise was negotiated by the 
Archbishop of Canterbury, in the treaty of Wallingford Treaty of 
(1153). The king had just lost his only son, Eustace. He Wallingford, 
agreed, on condition that he might retain the crown during 
his life, to recognize Henry as his son and heir. So the 
long strife came to an end. When Stephen died in the next 
year, Henry was beyond sea; "but no man durst do other 
than good for the great awe of him." On his return he was 
crowned king and entered into undisputed possession of his 
inheritance. 

Social Results of the Conquest. — The followers of William 
had succeeded in establishing themselves in possession of 
every post of power and profit throughout the kingdom. 
Some forty Norman villages gave title to the great estates, 
and no English names were to be found among the tenants- 

1 The family nickname from planta genista, the broom-plant, a sprig of 
which Count Geoffrey usually wore in his hat. 



II53- 



8o Foreigrn Rule 



^> 



in-chief until a century after the Conquest. Latin was the 
language of the Church and the law, French that of the court. 
Only the lower orders spoke Enghsh. Continental influ- 
ences are evident in the literary revival that marked the reign 
of the scholar son of the Conqueror. The national annals 
were elaborated in flowing Latin. Henry of Huntingdon 
enlivened the records of Bede and the Chronicle with the 
war-songs of the Saxons. William of Malmesbury recounted 
not only English but European history with an eye to 
causes and results. The ancient legends of Arthur were 
presented in Monmouth's History of the Britons, while Eng- 
lish feehng found expression in the Sayings of Alfred. 

The separation between the two races, the conquering 
and the conquered, was wide and deep. Contempt and 
tyranny on the one hand, fear and hate on the other, pro- 
longed the antagonism to which the harsh methods of the 
Conquest had given rise. The subject Saxons bore with 
sullen ill-will the burdens imposed by the haughty Norman 
lords, and availed themselves of every opportunity for re- 
venge. Time and again the people made common cause 
with the king in his struggle with the feudal aristocracy. 

The external efl'ects of the Norman Conquest were preg- 
nant with result. First of all, England was brought into 
close relations with the continent. The Conqueror ruled 
Normandy and England as one kingdom. His great barons 
held estates on both sides the Channel, and much journey- 
ing between the French and English territories became 
necessary. Under William Rufus, Normandy and England 
were independent, but Tinchebrai gave Normandy to Henry 
I, and the duchy and the kingdom remained united for a 
hundred years thereafter. This political connection brought 
about close relations with the continent, such as had not 
existed since Britain was a Roman colony. Commerce 
revived ; merchants ventured to undertake a European trade, 
carrying to France, Flanders, and Germany the agricultural 
products of England. In exchange they brought back the 
fine cloths, furs, wines, and other luxuries required by the 



Social Results of the Conqtiest 8 1 

Norman gallants. Lead and tin were again exported, while 
iron, not yet discovered in the barren Northumbrian hills, 
was fetched from the Baltic coast. The precious metals, 
especially silver, were imported in considerable quantity. 
The coinage of money was guarded as a royal prerogative. 
Commercial operations necessitated a uniform currency, and 




Norman House at Lincoln called the Jews' House 

Gardiner, A Student's History of England 

this could be secured only by doing away with the private 
moneyers. The Jews,^ the financiers of the Middle Ages, Green, 
were encouraged to settle in the towns under guarantee of P- "5- 
the king's protection. Trade ventures carried men far 
abroad, to Paris, to Marseilles, to Venice, and the Orient. 
The high-priced dainties they brought back in their brave 

1 They were confined to special districts, the Jewrys, where they lived 
on sufferance merely. 
G 



82 Fo7'eio;n Rule 



^> 



ships were not their most valuable cargo. Strange tales of 
foreign lands and customs, marvellous stories of romance 
and adventure, wisdom won by contact with superior civili- 
zations, — these were the imports that affected most deeply 
the life of the English people. 

Intellectual Results. — Furthermore, the Conquest brought 
England into touch with the learning of the continent. 
: From the Universities of Bologna and Paris, from the 

renowned Abbey of Bee, came Lanfranc and Anselm and 
many less famous scholars and ecclesiastics, who cultivated 
Johnson, the Latin tongue and the continental authors and inspired 
pp. 110-114. ^j^g English Church with a new zeal for letters. Thousands 
of English youths took upon themselves monk's vows, not 
in religious devotion, but because the monastery afforded 
the only opportunity for the scholar's life. The intellectual 
labors of these devotees of learning were confined to the 
transcription of Latin manuscripts, sacerdotal and classical, 
and the embellishment of the national annals. The worldly- 
minded ecclesiastic found at the court a more congenial 
employment. Since the clerics were the only learned men 
of the day, they were almost exclusively employed by the 
Norman kings in the administration of the government. 
Hence resulted a notable modification of political theory. 
Monastic training instilled into the thought of these cowled 
chancellors the conceptions of law and government that had 
been handed down by the Church as part of her heritage 
from imperial Rome. Doctrines of the king's supremacy 
and the subject's duty of unquestioning obedience are not 
of Enghsh origin, but derived from the continent. They 
were imported into England by Norman priests. 

Exaltation of the King's Authority. — Theory was most 
effectively enforced by facts. The greedy misrule of the 
barons taught men the need of authority. The supremacy 
of the king came to be regarded as the safeguard of the 
subject against political anarchy such as had devasted Eng- 
land under Edward the Confessor and the feeble Stephen. 
The Normans brought to the task of administration a 



Relations of Church and State 83 

capacity for organization, a sense of law and method, such Traill, i, 
as England had never known. From the royal officers might ^^i- 243. 
be expected a more uniform justice than was meted out in 
the local courts, and men were wilHng to pay dear for such 
protection. Neither the stern cruelty of William nor the 
heavy taxes imposed by his sons could obliterate the remem- 
brance of "the good peace they had made in the land." Anglo-Saxoii 
Throughout this period king and barons were engaged in Chromcle. 
a well-matched contest for mastery. The ambitious vas- 
sals maintained a prolonged resistance against the royal 
authority. Again and again the strife broke out, in the 
revolt of Hereford and Northumberland against the Con- 
queror, in the opposition of the barons to the exactions of 
William Rufus, in the rising against Henry I led by Flam- 
bard, in the contemptuous anarchy of the great lords under 
Stephen. It was a veritable tug of war, in which the kings 
were forced to fall back on the support of the Enghsh, and 
to make promises to observe the ancient laws in charters 
that estabhshed a precedent of mutual obligation. 

Relations of Church and State. — In the long struggle Train, i, 
between king and barons, the clergy as a rule cast their ^47-254- 
weight on the side of royalty ; and yet, influenced by the 
mounting ambition of the popes, the Church asserted 
privileges which not infrequently brought her into antago- 
nism with the throne. Rome had hoped from William's Bright, I, 
invasion of England closer relations between the Papal See 48-5°- 
and the Enghsh Church, and these anticipations were in 
some degree realized. There followed close upon the Con- 
quest a revival of ecclesiasticism. The Norman clergy in- 
troduced into England the stricter discipline imposed upon 
the continental Church by Gregory VII. Celibacy was en- 
forced among the superior clergy, although the parish priests 
were left to keep their wives if they would. The incoming 
of the Cistercians, whose voluntary poverty and severe ascet- 
icism attracted the admiration and devotion of the people, 
gave a new impulse to monasticism. 

The enhanced zeal of the clergy was reflected in the in- 



Foreign Rule 



84 

creased devotion of the people. Tangible evidence of this 
aspect of the Conquest remains to us in the beautiful 
Norman churches raised by the gifts of the faithful. The 



White 
Chapel, in 
Gower. 




Side Aisle of Whitk CriAPEL, iovvEK of London 

Clark, Mediceval Military A rchitecture of England 

simple structures of wood and stone that had seemed ade- 
quate to Saxon England gave place to grand cathedrals, 
built in the ornate, round-arch fashion, that was the glory 
of Normandy. 



Relations of Church and State 85 

William's attitude toward the Church was that of the able 
ruler who sees that the clergy may serve an important func- 
tion in maintaining order and in rallying the people to the 
support of the king. He deposed the English prelates and 
appointed Normans in their stead, thus securing his own 
influence in all the superior offices ; but the clerics so ap- 
pointed were selected with an eye to their churchmanship 
as well as to their loyalty. Lanfranc, who superseded Lanfranc. 
Stigand as Archbishop of Canterbury, was one of the most 
learned and able ecclesiastics of his day. William further 
converted the Church hierarchy to his purpose by requiring 
from each bishop and abbot the oath of homage and such 
feudal service as would be due from a lay lord holding the 
same lands. The Church was thus feudalized, and every 
acre of monastery land and every parish glebe ^ was made 
to render its quota to the royal treasury. 

The Conqueror was a faithful son of the Church, and yet 
the pretensions of Gregory VII to supreme authority in 
ecclesiastical affairs were met by uncompromising denial. 
The wise and wary king won from the pope, whose will no 
other European monarch had been able to withstand, most 
important concessions. No excommunication was to be 
declared in England without the king's leave. No papal 
bull could be received or executed without his consent. 
Legislation in Church synod was subject to his veto. In- 
dependent ecclesiastical courts were allowed, having juris- 
diction over the moral offences of clergy and laity ; but in 
the case of laymen the penalty could be inflicted only with 
the king's consent. Appointments to ecclesiastical office 
were to be made by the secular power. 

The questions thus settled by the friendly mediation of Bright, i, 
Lanfranc were destined to be reopened again and again, °' ^' '^^' ^^' 
and to vex statesmen for centuries to come. For example, 
the right of appointment to ecclesiastical office, which had 
been readily conceded to the great William, was challenged 

1 The land belonging to a parish church and assigned to the use of its 
clergy. 



S6 Foreiscii RtUe 



^> 



in the reign of Henry I. Anselm, the saintly successor of 
Lanfranc, refused to consecrate the bishops who had re- 
ceived investiture^ from the king. The conflicting claims 
of king and pope were again compromised. Prelates were 
to be elected by the clergy, but in the king's presence. Th6 
ring and the crosier, symbols of the spiritual function, were 
to be bestowed by the pope, while the newly elected bishop 
or abbot was to render homage to the king for his estates. 

Life of the People. — Upon the life of the common peo- 
ple the effect of the Conquest is not easily ascertained. The 
early annalists were so fully occupied in recounting the deeds 
of rich and powerful personages that they told little of the 
aspirations, the achievements, the failures, of the humble 
men and women who tilled the fields, and wove the cloth, 
and performed the thousand tasks without which the proj- 
ects of king and statesman could avail nothing for the 
welfare of the land. This people, whose deeds no chron- 
icler records, no poet sings, and concerning whose life we 
can gather only the scantiest information, was the major 
Traill, I, part of the nation. The population of England in the 

240-243- eleventh century was about one million five hundred thou- 

sand. Judging from data afforded by the Domesday Sur- 
vey, only five per cent were nobles and ecclesiastical digni- 
taries.^ The remaining ninety-five per cent were subtenants, 
small landed proprietors, serfs, and slaves. The principal 
Saxon landholders were, as has been seen, dispossessed by 
the Conquest ; but the tillers of the soil were left in undis- 
turbed possession. Speaking the Saxon tongue, ministered 
to by Saxon priests, observing the social and political cus- 
toms of their ancestors, they lived their own life and were 
Cunning- little affected by the change of masters. They toiled on in 
^^ ancient rural communities (called manors in the Nor- 

1 The right of investiture, i.e. appointment to a spiritual benefice, was 
claimed by the king since the incumbent was a vassal, by the pope since he 
was an ecclesiastic. 

2 Census of adult males, 1085: vassals of the crown, lay, 600, ecclesiasti- 
cal, 994; subtenants, 7871; free proprietors, 33,169; serfs, 195,580 ; slaves, 
25,156; burgesses, 7968. 




Battle Abbey, Sussex 

From an old print in The Universal Magazi7ie 

CLOSING SENTENCE AND SIGNATURES OF THE CHARTER OF BATTLE 

ABBEY, 1087. 



iI*mo. 



'itfu 



<^VSrii 






+ 






And if any one of my Barons or men shall have given anything of his own to the 
same church as alms, I grant and by the present charter, as by the aforesaid royal 
authority, confirm to them the same liberties vi^hich I granted in those matters which 
I gave to the same church. 



Willehnus rex 
King William 

Lanfrancus Arch. Canf. 
Lanfranc, Archbishop of 

Canterbury 

Maurici^ ep's Lujid^. 

Maurice, Bishop of 

London 



Walkeh'n' ep^. Wint^ 
Walkelin, Bishop of 

Winchester 

Osber7tus ep's Exon^ . 

Osbern, Bishop of Exeter 

Gundulf^ ep's Rof^^ 

Gundulf, Bishop of 

Rochester 



Htigo comes Cestren^ 
Hugh, Earl of Chester 

Roger^ com^ de 

Muntgii77i^ 
Roger, Earl of 
Montgomery 

Willelm^ Com^ de War^ 
William, Earl of Warren 



Willehn^ Fili^ Os¥ 
William Fitz Osbern 

Willebn^ de Brai^ 
William de Braoise 
Bernard^ de tiovo 
merc^ . 

Bernard of Newmarch. 



Tomas archp. Ebor^ 
Thomas, Archbishop of York. 



88 



Foreign Rule 



Rectitudmes 
Slngularum 
Personarum . 



man speech), cultivating the land they had inherited from 
their fathers, and rendering to the new lord the labor, money, 
or product services required by local usage. A quaint docu- 
ment of the tenth century gives us detailed information as 
to the duties and privileges of the serf or villein. His ser- 
vices are " various, in some places heavy, in others moder- 
ate." He is required to work on his lord's land two days a 
week throughout the year and three days a week through the 
spring ploughing and planting and during harvest. Other 
special services (boon-work) must be rendered upon de- 
mand. " From Martinmas to Easter, he shall he at his 
lord's fold as often as he is bid." He may be asked to 
fetch and carry, but " if he do carrying, he is not to work 
while his horse is out." The remaining time he is free to 
use on his own land. On certain of the great Church fes- 
tivals, — the characteristic marks of time in the mediaeval 
calendar, — each villein must bring to the manor house a 
stipulated contribution in money or produce. On Michael- 
masday, he pays tenpence rent ; on Martinmasday,^ thirty- 
three sesters of barley and two hens ; at Easter, a young 
sheep or twopence. It is the duty of the serfs to feed the 
lord's hounds and supply the village swineherd, to whom 
each man gives six loaves " when he goes to mast." The 
lord, for his part, provides his serf with thirty acres of land 
and an " outfit " ; i.e. two oxen, one cow, and six sheep, tools 
for his work, and utensils for his house. " Then when he 
dies, his lord takes back what he leaves." To secure the 
fulfilment of these numerous and complicated services 
required sedulous attention ; and for this purpose the lord 
of the manor, often an absentee, employed a steward or 
bailiff. His was a hateful task, and mediaeval literature 
abounds in sarcastic allusions to his greed and cunning. 
Serf labor seems a cumbersome method of getting work 
done, but it was the form of service most convenient in a 
feudal society because it did not require direct supervision. 



1 The feast of St. Michael, September ii. The feast of St. Martin, 
November ii. 



Life of the People 89 

It was to every man's interest to cultivate his own plot of 
land to the best of his knowledge and ability. On the de- 
mesne land ^ he gave but a grudging service. 

The Domesday Survey reports only twenty-five thousand Train, i, 
slaves, and after the eleventh century the number rapidly 356-360. 
decreased. This was in part a consequence of the influence 
of Lanfranc and other churchmen like the good Bishop 
Wulfstan, and of the edict against the slave trade issued by 
the Conqueror, but it was due even more to the prevalence 
of the feudal relation, with which property in human beings 
was inconsistent. 

The free proprietors formed only twelve per cent of the 
population, and they were to be found for the most part in 
the north among the recent Danish settlements. In the 
south, the feudal obligation was well-nigh universal. 

Life within the manor was rude and simple in the extreme. 
The administration of government was in the hands of the 
lord of the manor. The ancient tungemot became the 
court leet, whose presiding officer was the lord's steward. 
Weighty cases might be referred to the shire court, where 
the community was still represented by its reeve and four 
best men. Otherwise, communication with the outside 
world, even with the neighboring villages, was of rare occur- 
rence. Iron implements, millstones, salt, and spices must 
be brought from a distance, but food, shelter, and clothing 
were amply provided by local industries. The methods of 
agriculture were primitive, and much of the land lay unre- 
claimed and waste. Perhaps not more than one-fifth of the 
cultivable area of England was in use. The people naturally 
sought the fertile fields of the southeast, while the less 
hospitable regions of the west and north were but sparsely 
settled. 

Fully three-fourths of the population of mediseval England 
was agricultural, the proportion between urban and rural in- Traill i 
habitants being about what it is in Ireland to-day. Mention 360-367' 

1 The demesne was that part of the estate which the lord reserved for 
his own use. It was worked by serf or slave or (later) by hired labor. 



90 



Foreign Ride 



is made in the Domesday Survey of eighty towns, but only six 
of these were other than large villages. The most prosperous 
towns were seaports. London and Southampton controlled 
Towns. the trade between southern England and the continent. 

Norwich brought the products of the eastern counties 
within reach of the sea, while the western districts found an 
outlet at Bristol. York, Lincoln, Winchester, and Oxford 
were ancient fortified places of great strategic importance 
The Conquest tended to foster the growth of cities, since it 




Keep Tower, Lincoln Castle 

Britton, Picturesque Antiquities of the English Cities 



not only opened new commercial opportunities on the con- 
tinent, but, by bringing the warring sections of. England under 
one strong administration, facilitated internal trade. Feudal 
law, moreover, allowed that serfs escaping to a town and 
remaining unclaimed a year and a day acquired freedom. 
Considerable additions were thus made to the urban popu- 
lation. Increasing by rapid strides in numbers, wealth, and 
influence, the townsmen were soon in position to buy from 
the king or overlord charters of liberty that secured for 
them, in return for an annual tax, freedom from further im- 



Life of the People 



91 



posts and practical self-government. London boasts a 
charter signed by the Conqueror. The affairs of the bur- 
gesses were apparently held quite beneath the notice of the 
royal court and its chroniclers, and the towns were thought of 
only as a source of revenue, yet in the silent, unheeded 
growth of these trading communities there was preparing a 
power destined to play a notable part in the nation's history. 




Seal of William I 



Important Events 

Reign of Canute, ioi 7-1035. 

Edgar's laws are adopted by the Witan, 1018. 
Civil War, 103 5-1 042. 

Reign of Edward the Confessor, i 042-1 066, 

Exile of Godwin, 105 1. 

Rebellion of Tostig, 1065. 

Battle of Hastings, 1066. 
Reign of William I, 1066-1087. 

Conquest achieved, 1 066-1070. 

Domesday Survey, 1085. 

Salisbury Oath, 1086. 
Reign of William Rufus, 1087-1100. 

Normandy held in pledge, 1096-1100. 
Reign of Henry I, 1100-1135. 

Conquest of Normandy, II 06. 
Reign of Stephen, 113 5-1 154. 

TreatyofWallingford, 1153. 



92 Foreign Rule 






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CHAPTER IV 

THE FUSION OF RACES 
Books for Consultation 

Sources 

Benedict of Peterborough (Richard Fitz-Nigel and Roger of Howden). 

William of Newburgh. 

Gerald de Barri. 

Herbert Bosham. 

Peter Blois. 

William Fitz-Stephen. 

Special Authorities 

Norgate, England under the Angevin Kings. 

Green, A. S., Henry the Second. 

Stubbs, Constitutional History, Early Plantagenets, Literature and 

Learning at the Court of Henry LL (in Seventeen Lectm-es). 
Cunningham, Outlines of English Lndustrial History. 
Gross, Gild Merchant. 

Ashley, Lntroduction to English Economic History. 
Vinogradoff, Villainage in England. 

Imaginative Literature 
Tennyson, Becket. 
Scott, Lvanhoe. , 

Henry of Anjou (1154-1 1 89) } — Henry II was only twen- Green, He?vy 

ty-one when he came to the throne of England, but already ^ ^ ecoju , 
^ <=> > J pp, 15-20. 

1 The Plantagenets : — 

Henry II, 1154-1189, m. Eleanor of Guienne, divorced wife of Louis VII 
\ 

I n \ \ ^ I 

Henry, Richard I, Geoffrey, m. Constance John, m. Isabella Eleanor, m. king 
d. 1183 1189-1199 d. 1186 of Brittany 1199-1216 ofAngouleme of Castile 

I I 

Arthur, d. 1203 Blanche, m. 

Louis VIII of France 

93 , 



PP- 39-43- 



94 The Fusion of Races 

men had learned " to bear him great love and fear." Born 
of two remarkable races, he inherited the strong qualities of 
each. His instinct of government, his untiring industry, and 
his practical wisdom were Norman, but he was Angevin in 
his patience, his craftiness, and his tenacity. The contrasts 
of his character were as marked as its power. He was pas- 
sionately fond of the chase, but he was the most learned 
ruler of his time, and he delighted in the society of scholars. 
His irreverence was equalled only by his superstition. He 
would scheme long and patiently, only to spoil all his work 
by a moment's savage, uncontrolled rage. His energy and 
vitality were extraordinary. In all England there was no 
harder worker than the king. 
Ox^^xi, Henry Condition of England. — All Henry's power and energy 
the^ Second, were needed for the task before him. In England order 
was to be restored, a rebellious baronage to be curbed, and 
the Church, menacingly strong and conscious of its strength, 
to be brought within bounds. There were, moreover, new 
problems to be faced. The England over which Henry of 
Anjou was called to rule was not the England of his grand- 
father's time. The twelfth century was marked by a great 
intellectual and industrial awakening of western Europe, 
and in spite of anarchy and misrule, England felt the influ- 
ence of the spirit of the age. The new zeal for learning 
showed itself in the communities of scholars springing up 
under the protection of the Church, and the one hundred 
and fifteen monasteries built during Stephen's reign bore 
splendid testimony to the revival of religious interest. In- 
dustrial development kept pace with the expanding intel- 
lectual and spiritual life. Trade and commerce took a 
fresh start, the towns were growing in size and importance, 
and a strong middle class was coming into existence. Out- 
side the towns, the Cistercian monks, the model farmers of 
the age, were at work changing the face of the country. 
Planting their settlements on the dreary moorlands, or in 
remote valleys, they drained swamps, built roads, and re- 
claimed new lands. Under their influence England was 



Pacification of England 



95 



fast becoming the chief wool-growing centre of western 
Europe. It was an age of movement and change, and the 
rules and systems suited to the needs of a simpler society 
were beginning to break down under the more complex con- 
ditions of national life. A new order demanded new laws. 

Henry's Position on the Continent. — The full measure 
of Henry's greatness cannot be reahzed, however, unless 
one keeps in mind that his interests were not bounded by 
England. Henry was a 
continental ruler before he 
was an English king, and 
the guiding principle in the 
policy of the early part of 
his reign was his ambition 
to found a great Anglo- 
Angevin empire. But his 
position on the continent 
as well as in England was 
full of difficulty. To his in- 
herited territories he had 
added Aquitaine by his mar- 
riage with its duchess in 
1 152, and later he acquired 
the overlordship of Brittany. 
His great possessions were 
held together by no common 
tie, except that of subjection 
to himself, and in many of 
them his title was disputed. Moreover, he stood between 
two foes : on the one hand were his vassals jealous of the 
interference of one who was to them almost a foreigner, on 
the other was his suzerain lord, the king of France, eagerly 
watching for a chance to make trouble. 

Pacification of England. — Henry's first work was to 
carry out the provisions of the treaty of Wallingford. The 
Flemish mercenaries were sent home, the adulterine castles 
were destroyed, the courts of justice reestabHshed. In 




Byland Albey, West End 



Stubbs, 
Early 

Plantageriets ^ 
pp. 47-49. 



Stubbs, 
Early 

Plantagenets, 
pp. 40-44, 46, 




2 Lonritude from Greenwich 



Judicial and Administrative Reforms 97 

rapid journeyings north and west he brought the rebelHous 

border chieftains to terms and wrung homage from the 

princes of Wales and the king of Scots. In the work of 

reestabUshing the government Henry was aided by wise 

ministers. His justiciar, Richard de Lucy, the Loyal, 

served his master and his country faithfully for many 

years, but greatest among the men who surrounded the Thomas 

king was his chancellor and friend, Thomas of London, of London. 

known in later times as Thomas Becket. The son of Green, //^/zry 

. . the Second, 

a London burgher, ihomas had raised himself to emi- pp. 79, 80. 
nence by his briUiant accomplishments and his marked 
business abihty. He was appointed chancellor in 1155 and 
became in a few months the second man in the kingdom. 
A close friendship sprang up between the king and his minis- 
ter, and during the prosperous years of Becket's chancellor- 
ship they worked together as of one heart and one mind. 

Judicial and Administrative Reforms. — With the restora- Bright, i, 
tion of order Henry could turn to that work of judicial and ^^' ^°' 
administrative reorganization which more than anything 
else was to give him a place among the makers of England. 
That his primary object was to consolidate his own power 
does not lessen the value of the results to the country. 
The need for reform was great. Five or six different legal 
systems^ were administered in as many different courts. 
The men who gave judgment spoke a language unknown to Gx^&rv, Henry 
the judged. Old and cumbersome forms of procedure ^^.e Secojid, 
handed down from primitive times were still retained, and 
the result of a trial was more often injury than redress. To 
remedy these evils men were wont to look to the king, since 
he was the source of justice and his will was law. It was 
Henry's great merit that he replaced the personal, irregular 
interference of the crown by a well-understood, permanent, 
and uniform system of administration. 

Henry reorganized the central judicial courts, the Curia 

1 The most important legal systems were the English common law, the 
feudal law, the canon law, which was derived mainly from the Roman civil 
law, and the forest law. In addition each manor and town had its own 
peculiar customs. 
H 



98 



The Fusion of Races 



Green, 

PP- 137. 138- 



Trial by 
Jury. 



Green, Henry 
the Second, 
pp. 83-87. 



Regis and the Exchequer, and to make their great powers 
more effectual he sent itinerant judges from these courts into 
each shire to try all important civil and criminal cases. Fur- 
thermore, by two decrees, the Grand Assize and the Assize 
of Clarendon, the Norman principle of recognition or inquiry 
on oath was applied in many suits. If it were a question of the 
title to land, twelve sworn men of the district, chosen indirectly 
by the sheriff, were to decide the matter on their own knowl- 
edge or on information from others. If they could not agree 
in their judgment, other men were added until twelve were 
found of one mind. A similar method was used in criminal 
cases. Jurors, sworn men of the neighborhood, were to accuse 
before the shire court all whom they thought guilty of crime. 
They were under oath to speak the truth, hence their accusa- 
tion was called a verdict {vere dicta), and there was no appeal 
from it save to the ordeal. Even if a man stood that test, he 
was bound to leave the kingdom as one of evil repute. It is 
from these juries of recognition and presentment that by along 
series of changes our modern jury system has been evolved. 

Throughout the troubled years that were to follow the 
prosperous beginning of Henry's reign, the work of reform 
steadily continued. The results were of far-reaching im- 
portance. The royal treasury was enriched and the 
royal authority strengthened by the increased business 
of the king's courts ; at the same time the hold of the 
barons on their vassals was weakened, for the revival of the 
shire courts was at the expense of private jurisdictions. 
Moreover, through their enforced service on the local 
juries, Enghshmen received a training in public work that 
fitted them as nothing else could have done for the part they 
were to play at a later day in the government of the nation. 

Henry and the Church. — It was as a part of his scheme 
for the ordering of his realm, that Henry, on his return 
to England in 11 63, after a long stay on the continent, 
brought forward the question of the relations of Church and 
State. His desire was to establish one law for all England, 
but a great body of his subjects stood wholly outside the 



Quarrel between the King and the Archbishop 99 

secular law. The clerical order, which at this time included 
all of the educated and professional classes except soldiers, 
had freed itself entirely from the civil jurisdiction. Now 
the Church could not inflict bodily punishment, hence, no 
matter how serious the offence, a priest convicted of crime 
needed to fear nothing worse than degradation, fine, or im- 
prisonment. As a result evil-doers often evaded justice by 
declaring themselves clerks,^ and crime and lawlessness 
went unpunished. The state of things was a scandal to the 
Church as well as a danger to the realm. It was certain, 
however, that the ecclesiastical order would not relinquish 
its privileges without a struggle, and it was in the hope of 
meeting the opposition of the Church from within that 
Henry in 1162 forced the vacant primacy upon his trusted 
adviser. Thomas held back at first, but Henry was deter- 
mined to have his way, and at length the chancellor yielded, 
and became Archbishop of Canterbury. He at once resigned Bright, i, 
the chancellorship, and with even more speed than he had 93-ioi. 
formerly "put off the deacon" to enter the service of the 
king, he now cut himself loose from all secular ties, and 
identified himself with the Church. In his old friend and 
fellow-worker Henry met now his most formidable opponent. 
Quarrel between the King and the Archbishop. — It was, 
however, over a question, not of Church privilege, but of 
constitutional right, that the two men first crossed swords. 
In a great council held at Woodstock in July, 11 63, Thomas 
resisted the king's attempt to levy the old danegeld. Henry 
was forced to give way, and for the first time in English 
history the will of the king in money matters was suc- 
cessfully opposed. It was not long before Thomas again 
thwarted Henry, and this time it was an ecclesiastical ques- 
tion upon which he made a stand. The matter at issue was 
the trial of a clerk charged with crime. The king wished 
to have the accused tried before the royal courts, but 
Thomas maintained that the case belonged to the Church. 
He agreed finally to abide by the " customs " of the realm. 

1 The accepted evidence of being a clerk was ability to read and write, 
or even simply to sing. 



100 



The Fusion of Races 



Green, 

PP- 134-136. 
Gre&x\, Henry 
the Second, 
pp. 97-101. 

Constitutions 
of Clarendon. 



To decide what those customs were, a great council was 
held at Clarendon in 1164. There the ancient usages, col- 
lected and written down by some of the oldest and wisest 
of the nobles, were read before the assembled bishops and 
baronage. 

For six days the council discussed the Constitutions of 
Clarendon, as the report is called. Some of the articles 
passed unchallenged, but others roused bitter opposition. 
The ecclesiastical courts were allowed to retain much of their 
jurisdiction, but in case of doubt the Curia Regis was to 
decide where the suit belonged. A clerk accused of crime 
was to be tried in the secular courts, and if convicted the 
Church should not interfere to protect him. The arch- 
bishop passionately refused to set his seal to the Constitu- 
tions and withdrew from the council. A few months later, 
fearing for his hfe, he fled across the Channel to take refuge 
with Henry's enemy, the king of France. 

The struggle continued for six years. Many of the 
bishops were inchned to compromise, but the Church as a 
whole supported Thomas, and the mass of the people fol- 
lowed the clergy. The two leaders stood firm. Henry was 
contending for the supremacy of the State, Thomas for the 
independence of the Church. Each was sincere in his pur- 
pose even though the king had an eye to his own authority 
as well as to the good of the realm, and the archbishop 
never forgot personal ambition in the interests of his order. 
The king was a century in advance of his time, the priest 
did not realize that certain privileges of the Church were 
no longer necessary to her usefulness. 

Attempts at compromise were rendered vain by the king's 
unreasoning violence and by the stubbornness with which 
Thomas refused to abate his pretensions. At last, in 1 1 70, 
a half-reconciliation was brought about, and the two men in 
utter weariness agreed to forget the past. No sooner had 
the archbishop returned to England, however, than he re- 
newed the attack on the king by excommunicating those 
bishops who had taken part in the recent coronation of the 



Irish Affairs 



lOI 



king's eldest son. Henry, who was in Normandy at the time, 
was beside himself with rage at the news, and uttered the hasty 
wish that he were freed from his stubborn foe. A few days 
later the archbishop 
was struck down in 
his own cathedral of 
Canterbury by four 
knights incited to the 
bloody deed by the 
king's wrathful words 
(1170). Thomas won 
the crown of martyr- 
dom ^ to which he had 
so long aspired, and 
Henry was called to 
face the indignant hor- 
ror of all Christendom. 
In vain he disowned 
the act and promised 
to punish the murder- 
ers. Threatened with 
excommunication, he 
withdrew to Ireland, 
closing the ports of his 
realms to all messen- 
gers from the Pope. 

Irish Affairs. — 
While England was 
steadily gaining ground 
in political unity and 
in civilization, the sis- 
ter island had retro- 
graded. The country 
had suffered severely 




Murder of 
Thomas, 
1 170. 

Gxeer\, Henry 
the Second, 
pp. 148-154. 



Green, 

pp. 439-442. 



Part of the Choir of Canterbury 
Cathedral, in building 1175-1184 

Scott, Mediaeval A rchitecture 



1 In 1 173 the archbishop received canonization. The fate of his mur- 
derers illustrates the need of Henry's proposed reforms. After the murder 
they made their escape, but finding themselves shunned by every one, gave 



t02 



The Fusion of Races 



Green, Henry 
the Second, 
pp. 158-161. 
Bright, I, 
101-103. 



Strongbow. 



from the Danes. There was no Irish Alfred to unite the 
whole people agamst the invader, and though the Irish fought 
bravely, it was without avail. During the long and desperate 
struggle religion and learning almost disappeared. The North- 
men settled along the east coast and succeeded in effecting 
the first of the half-conquests which have been the bane of this 
unhappy land. For three centuries following, Celtic Ireland 
remained outside the influence of European civilization. Al- 
though Christian, it had no ecclesiastical connection with 
the rest of the Christian world (p. 35), and its social and 
political organization was still the tribal form, outgrown 
elsewhere in western Europe. The only real authority was 
exercised by the kings of the four great divisions, Ulster, 
Munster, Leinster, and Connaught, but they were simply the 
leading chieftains of their tribal groups. The land was torn 
with their rivalries, and as yet no man had appeared strong 
enough to unite the island under one rule. 

Henry had long had in mind the conquest of Ireland. 
Opportunity for interference was afforded by internal strife. 
In 1 166 Diarmit, king of Leinster, driven into exile by a 
union of the many foes raised through his own wrongdoing, 
betook himself to the English king and besought him to 
take up his cause. Henry, hampered by his quarrel with 
Thomas, was in no position to do this, but he gave Diarmit 
authority to obtain aid wherever he could do so in the 
Anglo-Angevin domains. The Irish king bad little diffi- 
culty in winning the support of Richard de Clare, known as 
Strongbow, a needy adventurer of Norman blood. He also 
secured the aid of a band of Norman-Welsh knights, the 
Fitzgeralds and Fitz-Stephens. During the next four years 
the king of Leinster and his allies succeeded in conquering 
a large part of Ireland. In 11 71 Diarmit died, and Strong- 
bow, who had married Eva, Diarmit's daughter, at once 
assumed control, with the title of Earl of Leinster. 

themselves up to the king. The murderer of a priest was amenable only 
to the ecclesiastical courts, so Henry sent the men to the Pope, but the 
Pope under the law could do nothing but condemn them to perpetual exile 
in the Holy Land. 



The Revolt of the Barons 



103 



pp. 161-169, 



Ireland under English Rule. — Henry had watched the Green, //^;;r;/ 
course of events in Ireland with anxiety, for he feared the ^'^^ Second, 
estabhshment of a rival kingdom. In 11 71, desire to take 
matters into his own hands, combined with the hope of 
appeasing the Pope by bringing the Irish into formal submis- 
sion to Rome, led him to cross St. George's Channel. The 
work of conquest was practically complete when Henry 
arrived, and having forced all parties to recognize his author- 
ity, he set about laying the foundations of a strong rule. 
The reorganization of the government was scarcely begun, 
however, when Henry was called back to Normandy. With 
him vanished all hope of pohtical order in Ireland. The 
Normans quarrelled among themselves, and the Irish chief- 
tains rose in rebellion. Too busy to attend to Irish affairs, 
Henry (1185) sent over his son, John, to whom he had 
given Ireland as a portion. But the young prince returned 
home in a few months, leaving matters worse than he found 
them. 

For the next three hundred years, Ireland was left very 
much to itself. Enghsh rule, as a real force, was confined 
to the pale.^ Outside this district, English settlers inter- 
mixed with the natives, and soon became more Irish than 
the Irish themselves. All that the conquest had done was 
to destroy the efficiency of the old tribal order, putting 
nothing in its place. The presence of the Enghsh, power- 
less to effect good, had the result of preventing the union of 
the Irish tribes under a native chieftain. 

The Revolt of the Barons. — When Henry hurriedl}^ left 
Ireland with his work there hardly begun, it was to meet 
dangers that threatened his rule elsewhere. Henry, the son 
and heir whom he had caused to be crowned king, that the 
succession might be secured, had formed a widespread con- 
spiracy to set his father aside. The danger was great, because 
there were discontented on both sides of the Channel, who 
were ready to look to the young king as a leader. 

From the beginning of his reign, Henry had borne with 



Green, Henry 
the Second, 
pp. 174-185. 



1 The strip of coast from Dublin to Wexford. 



104 



The Fusion of Race^ 



Green, Henry 
the Second, 
pp. 74, 75. 



Green, Henry 
the Second, 
p. 144. 



Scutage. 



Bright, I, 
103-105. 



Last feudal 
rising. 



heavy hand upon the great barons. He destroyed their 
castles, sent his justices into their courts, and forbade private 
coinage. He diminished their importance in the great coun- 
cil by compeUing the attendance of the lesser tenants-in- 
chief, and in 1170 he dealt their political power a severe 
blow by withdrawing the office of sheriff from the great 
nobles, and giving it to men of lower rank, trained in his 
courts and more dependent upon his will. Moreover, the 
device first introduced in 1159, and become, by this time, 
the established practice, of taking scutage, or shield money, 
in lieu of service in the field, although, apparently, in the 
interest of the baronage, told against their military superi- 
ority. It deprived their armed retainers of the chance of 
acquiring skill in war, while it enabled the king to hire for- 
eign mercenaries whom he could more freely and safely use. 

In the early summer of 1173, Normandy rose in rebel- 
lion, and in a short time the revolt became general. The 
young king was joined by his brothers Richard and Geoffrey. 
Philip of France and William the Lion, king of Scots, es- 
poused his cause, and the great barons on both sides of the 
Channel rose in his support. The value of Henry's work of 
reform was now revealed. To his aid rallied all who appre- 
ciated the good government that he had given England, the 
Church with which he had made his peace, the newer nobil- 
ity that knew not the Norman traditions, the townspeople, 
the freeholders of the country. Moreover, through the 
strong administrative machinery which Henry had created, 
the power of the crown could make itself felt as never before 
throughout the land. For a time the situation was critical, 
but by the summer of 1 1 74 all resistance was broken down, 
and the king of Scots was a prisoner. So complete, indeed, 
was Henry's victory that he could afford to be merciful to 
the rebels. The insurrection of 11 73 marks the close of an 
era in English history, for it was the last feudal rising, the 
last contest between the baronage and a united king and 
people. 

The Closing Years of the Reign. — Henry's pov/er was now 



io6 TJie Fusion of Races 

at its height. He used his right of appointing bishops to 
strengthen his hold upon the Church, and by a compromise 
with the papal legate he secured many of the points at, issue 
in his quarrel with Thomas. With the aid of his able min- 
isters he carried on the work of administrative reform. The 
Bright, I,' rising of 1 173 had shown the trustworthiness of the fyrd or 
106-109. militia, and what service it might render in the king's de- 

fence. In 1 181 Henry issued the Assize of Arms, providing 
for the reorganization of the national force. Every freeman 
was bound to provide himself with arms according to his 
degree, and to attend the regular musters before the royal 
justices.. 

The close of Henry's reign was disturbed by the rebellion 
of his sons, whom he loved and trusted in spite of repeated 
Gx&^xv, Henry treachery. The young king had died in 1183, but Richard, 
the Second, \^^ j^gjj- apparent, fearing the favor with which Henry re- 
garded his youngest son John, aUied himself with Phihp 
Bright, I, Augustus of France, and rose against his father. Defeated 
109-112. ^^ ^11 sides, and ill of a mortal disease, Henry submitted to 

the hard terms forced upon him by the rebels and turned 
to Chinon to die. They brought him from Philip a list of 
those who had conspired against him, and first on the list 
stood the name of his favorite son, John. Turning his face 
to the wall, the old king cried, " Let things go now as they 
will, — I care no more for myself or for the world." He 
died, murmuring, '' Shame, shame on a conquered king." 

"Work of Henry II. — Though of an alien race, speak- 
ing a foreign tongue and spending but thirteen of the 
thirty-five years of his reign in England, Henry of Anjou 
has left an indelible mark on English history. It is true 
that the Anglo-Angevin empire which he built up with so 
much care hardly outlived the century, but his policy deter- 
mined England's foreign relations for centuries to come. It 
Bright, I, was chiefly, however, through his work at home that he im- 
113, 114. pressed his personality on the national hfe. He destroyed 

feudalism as a system of government, he brought the Church 
under the control of the State, and established a strong cen- 



Work of Henry II 



107 



tralized administrative system. In 
accomplishing this he raised the 
power of the crown to a dangerous 
height, but at the same time, in na- 
tionaUzing the Church, in destroying 
the feudal traditions of the baron- 
age, and in reviving the activity of 
the local courts, he nourished forces 
which in the next century were to 
bring that power within bounds. 

Reign of Richard I (11 89-1 199). 
— Richard, the second son of Henry 
II, succeeded his father on the throne 
without dispute. There is little like- 
ness between Richard, the brilliant 
knight- errant, and Henry, the hard- 
working man of business, yet in the 
elements of constitutional progress 
and national growth one reign is 
but the continuation of the other. 
Henry's continental policy was fol- 
lowed by his son, and at home the 
administrative system was developed 
by men trained in Henry's methods 
along lines already laid down. 

Richard was even more truly than 
his father a foreign king. But twice 
during his reign of ten years did he 
spend a few months in England. 

Soon after taking possession of his English kingdom he 
started on a crusade to the Holy Land, leaving the govern- 
ment in the hands of his justiciar, WilHara Longchamp, 




A Crusader. — The Effigy 
of Sir Richard de What- 
ton in Whatton Church, 
Nottinghamshire 

From, an old print in The Gen- 
tleman's Masrazine 



Stubbs, 
Early 

Plantagenets, 
pp. 104-107. 



Bright, I, 
115-125. 

Stubbs, 
Early 

Plantagenets, 
pp. 110-116. 



io8 



The FtLsion of Races 



Stubbs, 

Early 
Plantagenets , 

pp. Il6, 122- 
124. 



Green, 

pp. 139-141- 



Stubbs, 
Marly 

Plantagenefs , 
pp. 125-127. 



Bishop of Ely. By 1192 the failure of the third crusade 
was evident, and the king was forced to abandon his en- 
terprise. Alarmed by reports of trouble at home, Rich- 
ard was hastening westward when he fell into the hands 
of his enemy, the emperor of Germany, and for two years 
was held a prisoner. Released at last on the promise of 
paying a heavy ransom, he made his way to England only 
to find his brother John alhed with the king of France and 
in open rebelHon. But John was too unpopular to be dan- 
gerous, and order was soon restored. There were, however, 
greater foes to be faced elsewhere, and the rest of Richard's 
reign was spent abroad in the effort to suppress the revolt of 
the barons of Aquitaine, and to secure Normandy against 
the attacks of the French king.^ In 1 199 his troubled career 
came to a close ; he was struck down by an arrow from a 
castle that he was besieging in Limousin, and lived only 
long enough to declare John his heir. 

Richard's Influence in England. — Richard's reign was 
marked by a further development of the administrative 
system, although the king's part in it was mainly indirect. 
Known in history and romance as the Lion- Hearted, a chiv- 
alrous soldier and valiant crusader, to his English subjects 
he must have seemed a needy and rather greedy fuler, who 
never thought of England except when in want of money. 
Probably he conferred on the country the greatest benefit in 
his power by absenting himself on foreign wars. Although 
something more than a mere soldier, Richard showed little 
appreciation of his father's methods of government, and had 
he remained in England he might only have disturbed the 
development of the political order so carefully elaborated in 
the previous reign. 

In the absence of the king, the control of affairs fell to 
such men as Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, and 
Geoffrey Fitz- Peter, men trained in the ideas of Henry II. 
They were loyal and able servants of the crown, but their 

iTo defend the Norman frontier, Richard built the ChS.teau Gaillard, a 
masterpiece of the engineering skill of the day. 



National Development 109 

task was a difficult one, for the nation was becoming restive 
under the increasingly heavy burden of taxation, and John, 
as faithless to his brother as he had been to his father, was 
at hand to take advantage of any discontent. To meet the Political 
constant demands of the king for money, the ministers were P^'^g^^ss. 
obliged to resort to every expedient. Personal property, 
levied upon for the first time in the reign of Henry II, 
was now regularly taxed, and in 1194, when the nation 
was called upon to pay the king's ransom, old forms of 
requisition were revived, and new ones were invented ; no 
class of persons, no kind of wealth, was allowed to escape. 
It was in part because of the difficulty of valuing personal 
property, and partly from a wish to conciliate the people, 
that the assessment of taxes was placed in the hands of local 
juries. It was during Richard's reign also that it became 
customary to intrust the choice of the juries of recognition 
and presentment to the freeholders of the shire. Thus the 
principles of election and representation were slowly making 
their way into the administrative system. 

Social Progress under the Early Angevins 

National Development. — The kingdom that Richard 
passed on to his worthless brother John was not the England 
of the Norman kings. During the half century that had 
elapsed since the treaty of Wallingford a new nation had 
sprung into existence. Under the rule of the Angevin the 
differences between Norman and Englishman had well-nigh 
disappeared. The Great Charter of the next reign takes no 
note of race distinctions. Men of English birth if not of 
English blood filled high places in Church and State. The 
court still used French, but the Norman barons had begun 
to learn the vernacular, and by the beginning of the thir- 
teenth century English was the generally spoken tongue.^ 

Literary Revival. — The literary activity which marked 
Henry I's reign had almost died out during the anarchy 

1 Latin continued to be the language of literature. 



no 



The Fusion of Races 



Green, 
pp. 143-146 ; 
Green, Hefiry 
the Second, 
Ch. X. 

Traill, I, 
344-356. 



Learning 
at the 
royal court. 



Traill, I, 
339-343- 



that followed. William of Malmesbury had no succes- 
sor, and in 1154 the Saxon Chronicle came to an end. 
But with the closing years of the century the new impulses 
that were stirring the life of the people found vigorous ex- 
pression in a great literary outburst. A wide gulf separated 
the new literature from the old. In its secular tone, its 
fulness and freedom of treatment, its wide range of subjects, 
wide as the scope of the Angevin interests, it spoke of the 
court rather than of the cloister. Under Henry II the 
royal court had in fact become a centre of learning, and 
although the greatest of the early Angevin historians, William 
of Newburgh, lived and wrote in a remote Yorkshire mon- 
astery, most of the writers of the time were statesmen and 
diplomatists rather than monks. One was the king's treas- 
urer, another an itinerant judge, another a royal chaplain.^ 
They were a part of the working world, and in their writings 
were reflected all aspects of national thought and activity. 
Disregard of old forms, revolt against narrow tradition, a 
living interest in actual events, eager seeking after new and 
higher things, characterized the literature of the twelfth cen- 
tury. The works of Richard Fitz-Nigel and Roger of How- 
den, men prominent in the administration, are a. record at 
first hand of the reigns of Henry and Richard. Gerald the 
Welshman, cousin to the Fitz-Geralds who took part in the 
conquest of Ireland, accompanied John on his journey 
thither, and came back to write two books on that country 
in the effective off-hand style of a newspaper correspondent 
of to-day. Every stage in the career of Thomas of London 
was carefully recorded by his friends and followers. In the 
Confessions of Bishop Goliath Walter Map held up the 
vices of the Church to the scorn of the age, while in Sir 
Galahad, he set before the world a new ideal of manhood. 

The Universities. — The same vigorous inquisitive spirit 
was revealed in the great communities of scholars that gath- 
ered at Oxford and Cambridge. The first use of the word 
university belongs to the thirteenth century, but even in 

1 Richard Fitz-Nigel, Walter Map, Gerald the Welshnian, 



The Towns 



III 



Richard's time Oxford was a school of European fame with 
regular faculties, thronged with eager scholars of all ages 
and from all corners of the kingdom, and even from over- 
seas. Here the older men studied law and theology, while 
the younger were taught grammar and rhetoric and, later, 
mathematics and physical sciences. In the intercourse be- 
tween men of all classes and many nations, provincial preju- 
dices gave way before a wider interest which included the 
whole world in its view. At Oxford a spirit of free inquiry 
which tended to break away from narrow ecclesiastical tra- 
dition early manifested itself. 

The Towns. — Even more than the universities did the 
towns further the growth of a spirit of freedom and self- 
dependence. The develop- 
ment of the wool trade and 
the expansion of foreign com- 
merce under the Angevins had 
increased the wealth and im- 
portance of the towns, and 
they moved steadily toward 
municipal freedom. London 
was always in the lead, and 
the lesser towns made the 
rights which it had secured the 
goal of their efforts. By the 
close of the century the strug- 
gle for self-government was 
practically complete. Most of 
the towns had gained charters 

which gave them their own independent courts of justice, 
and the right of controlling local trade. They paid their 
taxes into the royal treasury in a lump sum, called the ferm, 
assessing and collecting the dues themselves. The larger 
towns, moreover, were beginning to acquire the right of 
choosing their own chief officer, the mayor or reeve, until 
now nominated by the crown. The commercial privileges 
granted were usually very extensive. By the ordinary form 




"Ship" of Richard I 

From the Ms. of Matthew Paris 



Greer\, Henry 
the Second, 

pp. 137-141- 
Traill, I, 

359-367- 



112 



The Fusion of Races 



of charter, trade was to be " quit and free from all tolls, dues, 
and customs at fairs or otherwise, in all harbors throughout 
all my dominions, both by the hither side and the further 
side of the sea, by land and by strand." 

In their efforts to gain the privilege of self-government, 
the towns were aided by the necessities of the king and 
nobles, who were often in sore straits to meet the expense of 
their crusading enterprises, and were willing to yield some 
liberty or exemption in return for ready money. Each right 
gained was a matter of bargain. Rye and Winchelsey 
secured their charters from Richard by supplying him with 
two ships for one of his expeditions, and, a little later, 

Portsmouth obtained 
'^~'-- _-^-_ the same much-cov- 

eted possession by 
paying part of the 
royal ransom. 

The Merchant Gild. 
— A most important 
factor in the emanci- 
pation of the towns 
was the influence of 
the merchant gilds. 
With the develop- 
ment of commerce 
and industry, trade 
had become the rul- 
ing interest in the 
towns, and the mer- 
chant classes the most 
powerful element in 
the life of the com- 
munity. Their associations were originally formed merely 
to control the trade of the place or to secure purely commer- 
cial privileges, such as the right of holding a fair or exemp- 
tion from paying toll, but, including as they did the influ- 
ential men of the community, and strong through effective 




Exterior of the Gild House of the 
York Merchants Company 

Lambert, Two Thousand Years of Gild Life 



Trade 



113 



organization, they naturally took the lead in wringing from 
the crown judicial immunity or poHtical power. Almost 
every town and many villages possessed a gild, and it was 
here that the stirring, vigorous hfe of the community centred. 
Each gild had its hall where meetings were held to make 
rules by which dishonest trade might be prevented, and 
non-gildsmen kept from sharing in the traffic of the place. 

The power of the merchants tended to become tyrannical, 
and already artisans in some of the crafts endeavored to 
combine against their domination. In the reign of Richard, Rising of 
the artisans of London, led by one of the aldermen, William Longbeard. 
Longbeard, rose in a vain protest against alleged injustice 
of the great traders in the assessment of taxes. 

Trade. — As yet there was Httle freedom of commercial 
intercourse ; protection and monopoly were the watchwords 
of the merchant world throughout the Middle Ages, and 
trade was shackled by many fetters. The business code 
forbade methods now looked upon as entirely legitimate : for 
example, " forestalling," or buying up at a distance in order 
to sell at a higher price in the home market, and " engross- 
ing," or buying at a season of plenty to hold over until a 
time when the goods were dear. 

Internal trade depended on the great fairs, and the right Fairs, 
of holding them was dearly prized by the towns. The fair 
of Stourbridge, a few miles from Cambridge, was known 
throughout Europe. It was held in September, and for days 
before it opened the roads were blocked by wagons laden 
with wares from all parts of the world. Silks from Genoa, 
the linens of Flanders, French and Spanish wines, were dis- 
played side by side with the home traders' stores of wool 
and salt fish ; and the narrow streets were thronged with men 
of all classes, merchant and noble, soldier and priest. For 
three weeks the fair went on, and daily the mayor sat at his 
court "of the dusty feet" to give justice between disputing 
wayfarers, and on Sunday some monk from the neighboring 
priory said mass in the chapel that still stands near the spot 
where the fair was held. 



114 



The Fusiofi of Races 



Traill, I, 
367-371. 



With increased prosperity came greater refinement and 
luxury. The houses of the weahhy merchants were often 
of some architectural pretensions, and were far more com- 
fortable than the fortress-like dwellings of the baronage. 
Within the cities, where the gilds looked after their own 
people, some attention was paid to sanitary conditions of 
living, but outside the walls, where those not admitted to the 
privileges of the towns were herded together in unreheved 
dirt and squalor, fever and plague flourished unchecked. 




Seal of Henry I 



Important Events 

Reign of Henry II, 1154-1189. 

Constitutions of Clarendon, 1164. 

Assize of Clarendon, 1 166. ' 

Death of Archbishop Thomas, 1170. 

Invasion of Ireland, 11 69-1 172. 

Rising of the Barons, 1173- 
Reign of Richard I, 11 89-11 99. 

The king returns from the crusade, 1194. 



Chief Conteinpoj^aries 115 



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CHAPTER V 

STRUGGLE FOR THE CHARTER 
Books for Consultation 

Sources 
Matthew Paris. 
Robert of Gloucester. 
William of Rishanger. 
The Burton Annals. 
Grosseteste, Letters. 
Political Songs (Camden Society). 

Royal and other Historical Letters of the Reign of Henry III. 
Hutton, English History from Contemporary Writers ; Misrule 

of Henry LLf, Simon de Montfort and his Cause. 
Stubbs, Select Charters. 

Special Authorities 

Taswell-Langmead, Constitutional History. 

Richardson, 'I'he National Alovement in the Reign of Henry III. 

Pauli, Life of Simon de Montfort. 

Eccleston, Co?ning of the Friars. 

Tout, Edward L. 

Burton, History of Scotland. 

Imaginative Literature 
Shakespeare, King John. 

John^ ( 1 199-12 16). — The third king of the Angevin hne 
stands out as the most vicious and worthless of all English 

^ John, 1199-1216 
, \ \ . 

1 \ ^ ' ,. . 

Henry III, m. Eleanor Joan, m. Alexander II Eleanor, m. Simon Richard, tcing of 

1216-1272 I of Provence of Scotland de Montfort the Romans, 

I d. 1271 

Edward I, m. Eleanor of Castile Edmund Crouchback, Margaret, m. Alexander III 
1272-1307 Earl of Lancaster, d. 1295 of Scotland 

116 



The Loss of Normandy 



117 



monarchs. Faithless to every trust, stained with every 
crime, from first to last John's hfe offers not one redeeming 
trait, not one saving act. And yet he had much of the 
ability of his house, together with an extraordinary power 
of winning the love of men. But he used his power over 
others only to their undoing, and the achievements of his 
undoubted force and talent were rendered vain by the base- 
ness of his nature. 

The reign of John falls naturally into three periods, each 
ending in crushing defeat and humiliation ; in the first, in- 
terest centred in the wars with Philip of France, during 
the second, the king was carrying on a fierce contest with 
Rome, and the last was occupied with the events that turned 
upon the granting of the Great Charter. 

The Loss of Normandy. — John's claim to succeed his 
brother met with no opposition in England, but on the 
continent he was confronted with a dangerous rival in his 
nephew, Arthur of Brittany, the son of his dead brother 
Geoffrey. The young prince urged the claims of strict 
hereditary succession, and he had a strong supporter in 
the French king. Philip and Arthur soon quarrelled, how- 
ever, while in his mother, Queen Eleanor, John had a wise 
and experienced counsellor, and within a few months he 
was master of all his continental possessions. But he mis- 
used his good fortune, and quarrelled with the barons of 
Poitou, thereby giving the French king a chance to inter- 
fere as overlord. On John's refusal to appear before Philip 
to answer the charge against him, he was declared to have 
forfeited his lands. John's position was already critical 
when his difficulties Were increased by the mysterious death 
of the young Prince Arthur (1203), who had fallen into his 
uncle's hands. The king was accused, and probably with 
justice, with having murdered his nephew. Phihp, quick 
to take advantage of the storm of indignation that followed, 
pressed boldly forward into Normandy. The barons, in- 
sulted and wronged by John, refused to rise in his behalf, 
and town after town opened its doors to the French king. 



Green, 

pp. 147, 148. 



Stubbs, 

Early 

Plantagenets, 
pp. 129-135. 

Bright, I, 
126-129. 

Green, 

pp. 141, 142. 



Death of 
Arthur, 1203. 



ii8 



Struggle for the Charter 



Stubbs, 
Early 

Pla7itage7iets, 
pp. 136, 137. 



Stubbs, 
Early 

Plantagenets , 
pp. 137-143- 

Bright, I, 
130. 131- 



Stephen 
Langton. 



By the end of the summer of 1204 John's rule was limited 
to the lands south of the Garonne ; nothing but the Channel 
Islands remained to him of the hereditary possessions of 
William the Conqueror and Geoffrey of Anjou. 

Consequences of the Loss of the French Provinces. — That 
the work of Henry II on the continent was so soon undone 
was due in part to the great ability of the French king, and 
still more to John's worthlessness ; but the ease with which 
Maine, Normandy, and Anjou became a part of France 
showed how impossible was the project of an Anglo- 
Angevin empire. To England the loss of the French 
provinces was an event of far-reaching importance. The 
barons were compelled to choose between Normandy and 
England, and those who threw in their lot with the island 
realm became now for the first time wholly English in 
sympathy and interest. For the first time, too, since the 
Conquest, king and people were brought face to face ; the 
king was dependent upon England, as his predecessors had 
not been ; the people learned to know their ruler as never 
before. 

John's Quarrel with the Church. — The death (1204) of 
Queen Eleanor, John's mainstay on the continent, had been 
followed by defeat in Normandy; and when, in 1205, the 
king lost Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, his 
most useful and faithful servant, he at once plunged into 
a quarrel with Rome which ended in his deep humiliation. 
The difficulty arose out of the question of choosing Walter's 
successor, both king and chapter claiming the privilege. 
John was probably in the right, — the power of the crown 
to nominate to the See of Canterbury had been conceded 
even by Anselm, — but he prejudiced his cause by unreason- 
ing violence. The matter was laid before the Roman Curia. 
Pope Innocent decided the question by rejecting the candi- 
dates of both parties and causing his own man to be chosen. 
In this high-handed action he probably thought chiefly of 
advancing the interests of Rome ; but when he nominated 
Stephen Langton, an Englishman already known for his 



TJie Interdict and Deposition 



119 



pp. 148-150. 



great learning and noble character, he gave to England an 
able and disinterested leader in the coming struggle for 
freedom. 

The Interdict and Deposition. — John refused to yield Green 
to the Pope's decision. He would not permit the new 
archbishop to enter England. Threat he met by counter- 
threat ; if Innocent laid the kingdom under interdict, he 
would banish the clergy and seize their goods. But Inno- 
cent III, the greatest and most imperious of all the popes, 
was not one to draw back, and in 1208 the interdict was pro- 
claimed. The churches were closed ; only the chapels of 
a few privileged orders remained open ; the dead lay un- 
buried, or were placed in unconsecrated ground ; no sacra- 
ments were administered except those of baptism and 
extreme unction. The nation felt itself under a curse. Still 
John did not yield, but made good his threats by subjecting 
the clergy to great outrage. In 1209 the Pope struck at 
the king in person by excommunicating him, but John 
met excommunication with defiance. He seized the prop- 
erty of the bishops and used it to carry on a vigorous war 
upon the Welsh and Irish and Scots. There was but one 
weapon left the Pope, and the time to use it was come. In 
12 12 Innocent issued a bull deposing the king, absolving 
his subjects from their allegiance, and caUing upon the 
French king to execute the decree. Even yet John might 
have proved a match for Rome had he not suddenly found 
himself confronted by rebellion among his own barons. 

Throughout his reign John had insulted and oppressed Stubbs, 
the baronage. He had seized their castles and held their 
children as hostages. Illegal and burdensome exactions pp. 143-145 
had been followed by repeated demands for service and 
scutage. There was scarcely one among them but had 
some personal ground for complaint. Their long endur- 
ance of John's tyranny bears witness to the strength which 
Henry's reforms had given the crown. In secret, however, 
the barons were plotting against the king ; and it was the 
discovery at this juncture of their conspiracies with Philip 



Eai-ly 
Planta^enets^ 



120 



Struggle for the Charter 



Bright, I, 

133. 134- 



Stubbs, 

Early 

Plaritagenets, 

pp. 143, 145- 

149. 

Green, pp. 

150-152. 



Meeting nt 
St. Paul's, 
1213. 



Bright, I, 
135-139- 



that forced John to yield. His decision was quickly made. 
His present position was hopeless, but with the Pope as an 
ally, he could defy the rest of his foes. On the 15th of 
May, 1 2 13, he knelt before the papal legate, Pandulf, and 
surrendering his realm to the Pope, received it back to 
hold as a vassal of the See of Rome. 

The King and the Barons. — John and the Pope were 
now reconciled, but this did not improve the king's relations 
with his subjects. The Church still stood aloof; and for the 
first time since the Conquest, the crown could expect no 
support from the clergy in a contest with the baronage. 

Regardless of the dissatisfaction already existing, John 
added to the accumulated grievances of his vassals by de- 
manding that they should follow him on an expedition that 
he was planning for the recovery of the lost French prov- 
inces. At last the smouldering resentment burst into open 
revolt, and on all sides the king met determined opposition. 
They would serve him within the four seas, the barons said, 
but cross the Channel they would not. 

Hitherto the baronage had lacked a leader, but the Pope 
unwittingly gave them one in Stephen Langton, who, ever 
since his arrival in England, had been untiring in his efforts 
to restrain the king from despotic measures. Already John 
had been brought to the point of promising through his 
justiciar, Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, that he would henceforth abide 
by the old-time laws. On the outbreak of insturrection, Lang- 
ton came forward with practical statesmanship to give the 
nation a definite basis of action. At a meeting of the 
barons at St. Paul's in August (12 13), he displayed the 
half-forgotten charter of Henry I, and proposed that it be 
presented to the king as expressing the terms on which 
he should govern. 

But John met all demands with evasion. He was about 
to start on the expedition to France, from which he hoped 
much. Although he could obtain no aid from the barons, 
on whom he had lost his last hold by the death of Geoffrey 
Fitz-Peter, he had succeeded in gathering together a large 



The Great Charter 121 

force of mercenaries. During the next few months the fate 
of England trembled in the balance. Had John returned 
from France victorious, the rebellious barons would have had 
no chance ; the overwhelming victory of the French at 
Bouvines in July, 12 14, gave the signal for the triumph 
of English freedom. 

Rising of the Barons. — Matters at once came to a crisis 
in England. The northern barons took the lead, but they 
were soon joined by many others. At Christmas time they 
appeared in arms before the king, and demanded that the 
old liberties should be restored. John asked time for con- 
sideration, and at once attempted to divide his foes. He 
appealed to Rome, he promised to respect the privileges 
of the clergy, he put himself under the especial protection 
of the Church by taking the cross as a crusader, he de- 
manded the oath of allegiance from every free man, and he 
summoned mercenaries from Poitou. 

The barons at once reassembled. In May, London 
opened its gates to them, and a little later they were joined 
by the royal ministers. The king, deserted by all save his 
kinsmen and favorites and the foreign soldiers, was forced 
to yield. On the 15th of June, 1215, he met his outraged Grant of the 
vassals at Runnymede, near Windsor on the Thames, and Charter, 

J2IC 

made full submission in setting his seal to the charter of 
liberties which they laid before him. 

The Great Charter. — The first step in the struggle for pop- Green, 
ular government was won. In the words of Bishop Stubbs, pp. 152-155- 
" The maintenance of the Charter becomes henceforth the '^^^ f 

Charter — 

watchword of Enghsh freedom." In form the Great Char- Latin: 

ter w^as a royal grant ; in reahty it was a formal state- Stubbs, 

ment of liberties wrung from the king by the united action Q^^^fg,.^ . 

of the people of England. It contained little that was new, EngUsh : 

but it expressed with exactness what before was undefined. Old South 

_ Leaflets, 

Thoroughly English in spirit, there was no statement of j^q ^_ 
abstract rights ; everything was thrown into concrete, practi- 
cal form. No class, no interest, was overlooked. Some of 
the provisions limited the power of the king over his vassals ; 



122 



Struggle for tJie Charter 



Stubbs, 

Early 

Pla?itagenets, 
pp. 150-153. 



Others protected the villain against his lord. To the Church 
were secured its ancient liberties ; to the towns, their newly 
bought privileges. The care with which the interests of the 
merchants were protected shows the increasing importance 
of trade. 

Some of the sixty-three articles of the charter related to 
merely temporary matters ; others were valuable for all time. 
The principles upon which the whole English judicial system 
is based were expressed in the words " No freeman shall be 
taken or imprisoned, or disseised/ or outlawed, or banished 
, . . unless by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the 
law of the land." " We will sell to no man, we will not deny 
to any man, either justice or right." Among the most im- 
portant articles were the two which limited the power of the 
king in matters of taxation. " No scutage or aid shall be 
imposed in our kingdom, unless by the general council of 
our kingdom ; " and " For the holding of the general coun- 
cil of the kingdom ... we shall cause to be summoned the 
archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and greater barons of the 
realm singly, by our letters. And furthermore we shall cause 
to be summoned generally by our sheriffs and bailiffs, all 
others who hold of us in chief." 

Renewal of the Struggle. — In words, the recognition of 
the national liberties was ample, but how insure the fulfil- 
ment of the promise? how control a king whom no oath 
could bind? In the charter itself it was arranged that a 
council of twenty-five barons should be chosen to enforce 
its provisions. Authority was given them to make war upon 
the king if he should fail to do justice. *' They have given 
me five-and-twenty overkings," protested John, and he at 
once turned to seek a way of evasion. 

Civil war followed. Innocent, with little comprehension 
of the question at issue, freed the king from his oath, and 
recalled Langton to Rome. John summoned to his aid 
Poitevin and Flemish mercenaries, and for a time swept all 
before him. The barons in despair renewed the intrigues 

1 Dispossessed of land. 



Minority of Henry III 



123 



with the French king, and in 12 16, Louis, the French prince, 
to whom they had offered the crown, entered England at 
the head of an army. At once the tide turned, since the 
hired soldiers refused to fight against the son of their king. 
John's cause was not lost, however, when he suddenly died. 

Minority of Henry III (1216-1227). — John's death trans- 
formed the situation. A large portion of the country was 
in the hands of the insurgents and their allies, and the king- 
dom was in a fair way to be lost to France. But it was fear 
and hatred of John that had led the barons to call in Louis. 
John dead, national feeling reasserted itself, and the coali- 
tion began to break up. Nevertheless, England might even 
yet have passed under foreign rule but for the patriotic 
course of the greatest of the barons, Wilham Marshall, Earl 
of Pembroke. Aided by Gualo, the papal legate, he caused 
Henry, the young son of John, to be crowned king, reissued 
the Charter, thus detaching many of the barons from the 
French alliance, and, by his vigorous efforts, succeeded in 
obliging Louis to withdraw. 

The following years were occupied in reestablishing the 
government. In the minority of the young king, Pem- 
broke acted as regent until his death in 12 19. He was 
succeeded by the justiciar, Hubert de Burgh, who continued 
his work, carrying on the administration according to the 
principles of the Charter. De Burgh's efforts to give Eng- 
land sound government were complicated by the presence 
of foreigners, the former supporters of John, and by the re- 
appearance of the spirit of feudal lawlessness among the 
barons. The attempts of the Pope to interfere in the con- 
duct of affairs was a further embarrassment. But the justi- 
ciar succeeded in expelling the foreigners, and by reoccupying 
the royal castles, put a check on the barons, while Langton 
crowned his services to the cause of constitutional freedom 
by obtaining the promise that during his lifetime no Roman 
legate should be sent to England. 

The years of Henry's minority were a period of quiet 
national growth, of awakening political consciousness, of 



Stubbs, 
Early 
Plantagenets , 

PP- 155-158, 
160-164. 



William 
Marshall. 



Bright, I, 
141-150. 

Hubert 
de Burgh. 



124 



Struggle for the Charter 



Green, 

pp. 171-175. 



spiritual and moral regeneration. The loss of the French 
provinces had removed the last obstacle in the way of 
national unity, so far as the barons were concerned. At the 
same time a great movement within the Church was prepar- 
ing the people for pohtical power. 

The Friar Movement. — In the thirteenth century the 
temporal power of Rome was at its height, but secular 
advance had been attained at the expense of spiritual influ- 
ence. The monastic revival of the preceding century had 
spent itself, and old and new orders alike were corrupt and 




LONGTHORPE MANOR HOUSE. BUILT ABOUT I235 
Hudson Turner, Domestic Architecture 



Dominicans 

and 
Franciscans. 



self-seeking. Heresy was growing rife, and the spiritual 
welfare of the people was neglected. 

It was the mission of two great religious orders that 
sprang suddenly into existence early in the thirteenth cen- 
tury, to recall the Church to its duty. Unlike the earlier 
monks, the friars sought not their own salvation apart from 
the world, but strove to save the souls and bodies of others. 
The Order of Preachers, as the followers of Dominic the 
Castilian were called, directed their eloquence against popu- 
lar heresies, while Francis d'Assisi and his gray-frocked 
brethren labored to relieve the misery and degradation of 
the common people. Bound by vows of poverty that were 



The Fidars in England 



125 



real, the barefooted friars wandered through all lands. They 
turned to the towns neglected by the older orders, nursing 
the sick and befriending the outcast. They preached in 
the crowded market-place in words that all could under- 
stand, driving home each truth with apt anecdote or homely 
illustration drawn from the world of nature or from the daily 
experience of those to whom they spoke. 

The Friars in England. — The Dominicans or Black 
Friars reached England in 1220, and four years later they 




Wells Cathedral. West Front 



were followed by the Franciscans. There was little heresy 
to combat in England, but among the forlorn dwellers 
outside the walls of the rapidly growing towns there was 
urgent need of the practical labors of the Franciscans. 
They soon became the more popular of the two orders. 
The EngHsh clergy had shared in the general deteriora- 
tion of the Church. The great ecclesiastics were worldly 
minded, and the parish priests were ignorant and de- 
graded. The needs of the people were neglected by both 
ahke. The coming of the friars worked a revolution in 
the life of the nation. The indifference of the laity and 
the hostility of the clergy were not proof against their ar- 



126 Struggle for the Charter 

dor and devotion. They aroused the Church to a new sense 
of its duties, and urged the people to hoher and healthier 
living. 
Traill, I, The influence of the friars on national thought was of 

429-440. great importance. With true instinct they had made their 

^ way at once to Oxford, where thousands of youth from 

all parts of the country were gathered. At first the Fran- 
ciscans set their faces against all learning, but they soon 
saw that training in theology and medicine was necessary 
for the success of their work, and in a short time they had 
established their schools at Oxford. Under the inspiration 
of their teachings the dark lecture rooms were thronged 
with eager learners. The friars gave to education a utili- 
tarian bent. The old zeal in learning for learning's sake 
died out before the interest they lent to the study of scholas- 
Roger tic theology and practical science. Roger Bacon, himself 

Bacon. ^ Franciscan, bears witness in his writings ^ to the changed 

temper of his university of Oxford. First of English phi- 
losophers, and last and greatest representative of the wider 
culture of the preceding generation, he labored for many 
years to arouse men to an interest in the great world of 
knowledge outside the narrow scholastic bounds. But the 
appeal was lost upon his contemporaries ; in the end he was, 
as he himself wrote, "unheard, forgotten, buried." 

On the political temper of the time the influence of the 
friars was strong and invigorating. Preachers fof the people, 
they wandered from place to place and helped to spread new 
ideas, to form public opinion. In thought and habit of 
life they were democratic, and their sympathies were with 
the poor. Through their dramatic open-air preaching they 
roused their hearers to new conceptions of the duties of 
kings and the rights of subjects. It was this propaganda 
that threw the influence of the towns and universities on 
the popular side in the coming struggle with the crown. 
The contest against royal misrule which filled the later 
years of Henry's reign is called the Barons' War, but it was 

1 The Opus Maj'zis, an encyclopaedia of the knowledge of the day. 



RtUe of Henry III 127 

the consciousness that behind them stood the nation that 
nerved the barons to rise against the king. 

Rule of Henry III. — In 1227 Henry declared himself Stubbs, 
of asre, and thenceforward his character tells upon the -^f^^-'' 

. ^ Plantagenets^ 

course of events. Deeply religious, moral, refined, he had pp. 154, 155, 
few of the vices of his father, but on the other hand he ^^5; 
had little of the force and political capacity that had marked p^^i5'_i ^ 
his house heretofore. Throughout his long reign he showed 
himself weak and vacillating, incapable both of fulfilhng the 
wishes of his subjects and of carrying out a vigorous policy 
of his own. His rule was characterized by misgovernment 
at home and inefficiency abroad. To assert the power of stubbs, 
the crown he turned his ministers out of office, filling their ^^^'^y 

JPlcDztdP'CHcts 

places with men dependent upon himself. Thus in 1232, pp. 165-167/ 
Hubert de Burgh, last of the great justiciars, was dismissed, 
to be replaced by the Bishop of Winchester, Peter des 
Roches, a Poitevin. Later Henrv tried to be his own chief 
minister, and to carry on the government without treasurer, 
chancellor, or justiciar ; but he lacked the ability and energy 
for this, and the result was hopeless disorder. The nation Bright, i, 
groaned under the rule of foreigners, favorites of the king, ^S^-^sS. 
or kinsfolk of his mother and wife. In their hands were 
placed the royal castles and the high offices, to them were 
intrusted the defence and administration of the realm, on 
them was squandered one-sixth of the royal revenue. 
Extravagant and wasteful, the king was ever in need of 
money and ever demanding supplies. His debts amounted 
to more than four times his annual income. Every expedi- 
ent to fill the treasury was used. Offices were sold, loans 
were wrung from the great nobles, clergy and laity alike 
were called upon for new and burdensome aids. The weight 
of taxation was increased by the king's foreign expeditions. 
Unable to see that England's true interest lay within the 
four seas, he was constantly engaging in the quarrels of con- 
tinental kings, or scheming to regain the lost provinces. 
An attempt to recover Poitou (1242) ended in the loss of 
all lands in France except Gascony. 



128 



Struggle for the Charter 



Stubbs, 
Early 

Plantagefiets, 
pp. 172-175- 

Hutton, 
Misrule of 
Henry HI, 
p. 22. 



England and the Pope. — Not by the king alone was the 
unhappy reahn plundered and pillaged. Since John's sub- 
mission, the Pope had looked upon England as a vassal 
kingdom bound to contribute to the needs of the Papal See. 
Langton's death in 1228 was followed by an attempt of the 
Pope to secure an increase of revenue. Large sums were 
exacted from the clergy, and many of the best livings of the 
Church were bestowed on ItaHans. Under Innocent IV 
the extortions multiplied, and a special agent, Master Mar- 
tin, was sent to England to wring whatever he could from 
the people. Under the leadership of Grosseteste, Bishop 
of Lincoln, clergy and laity made common cause in resisting 
these spoliations. They sent protests to the Pope, and 
appealed to the king for protection, but in vain. The 
demands of Rome increased year by year. Grosseteste de- 
clared that the Pope's nominees drew from the realm a 
revenue three times as great as the royal income. Henry 
gave the country no help, since both devoutness and per- 
sonal gratitude bound him to the Pope. Self-interest led 
him to connive at the papal exactions in return for papal 
support in his dealings with his subjects. 

Feeling of the People. — Year by year the discontent of 
the nation increased, and finally it found expression. In 
1237 the council declared in words that sum up the long 
list of grievances, " that it would be unworthy of them and 
injurious to allow a king who was so easily led astray, who 
had never repulsed or frightened even the least of the 
enemies of his kingdom, who had never extended the 
borders of his realm but had contracted it and brought 
it under the rule of foreigners, to so often extort so much 
money from them, his natural subjects, as though they were 
slaves of low degree." Over and over again the barons 
attempted to bind the king through renewals of the Charter 
purchased at a heavy price, but in vain. The king took the 
money, but failed to keep his royal word. " The king 
breaks everything, the laws, his good faith, and his prom- 
ises, " wrote Matthew Paris. In 1242 the council, now begin- 



Simon de Montfort 129 

ning to be known as the Parliament, went so far as to refuse 
Henry's request for a subsidy, and two years later an attempt 
was made to secure the appointment of officials who should act 
in all administrative matters, and be held responsible to Par- 
liament. The innovation was too great to find acceptance, 
but it indicated the advance the nation was making in the con- 
ception of self-government. Still more important was the ap- 
pearance in the great council of 1254 of knights of the shire. Knights of 
men elected by the shire court to report on the amount of the shire. 
money their counties were willing to contribute to the king's 
necessities, l^hroughout these dreary years of misrule, 
marked only by unsatisfied greed and fruitless opposition,' 
the form and spirit of constitutional rule were taking 
shape. Slowly men were learning the identity of national 
interest. Still more slowly the way to secure that interest. 

Simon de Montfort. — That revolt was so long delayed stubbs 
was due in part to apathy in the nation, but still more to iar/j'' 
lack of a leader. All who had led in the earlier struggles P^<^^^i^g^nets , 
with the crown were dead, Hubert de Burgh, Stephen Lang- a-een^"'^^' 
ton, the Marshalls, Edmund Rich, and Grosseteste. But PP- "^iS-'^n. 
among the swarm of hated ahens was a man who was soon 
to stand forth as the chief opponent of Henry and his 
oppressive rule. Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and 
brother-in-law of the king, was at first scarcely distinguish- 
able from the foreign favorites at the court, but by 1244 
he had ranged himself definitely on the side of the barons. 
During the years that followed he was much abroad on 
pubHc business, but in 1257 he returned to England and 
at once placed himself at the head of the opposition. It 
is not easy to understand Simon de Montfort's true char- 
acter, nor to mark the steps by which the French favorite 
was transformed into the English patriot. Even to the men 
of his own time his character and career seemed full of 
contradictions. Generous and high-spirited, he was also 
overbearing and impatient of opposition. He showed him- 
self firm in his patriotic purpose, yet it is difficult to free 
him from the reproach of ambition. But whatever his faults, 



130 



Stricggle for the CJiarter 



Stubbs, 

Early 

Phmtagenets , 

pp. 187-201 ; 

Green, 

pp. 177-182. 



he gave the people the guidance and inspiration they so 
much needed, and advanced them far on the road toward 
constitutional freedom. 

The Barons' War. — In 1258 matters came to a crisis. 
Misled by foohsh ambition, Henry had consented to be- 
come the tool of Innocent IV in his quarrels with the 




Provisions 
of Oxford, 

Bright, I, 
159-162. 



Wells Cathedral. Dedicated 1239 

House of Hohenstaufen, and had pledged England to fur- 
nish the sums necessary for carrying on the Pope's wars. 
The patience of the country was at last exhausted ; and the 
king's demand for one-third the revenue of all England was 
met by open revolt. Under the lead of Leicester, the barons 
appeared in arms before Henry and demanded sweeping re- 
forms in the administration. Unable to resist, the king con- 
ceded all that was asked, and with his son Edward swore to 
observe the articles drawn up by the barons in the Parlia- 
ment of Oxford, — the Mad Parliament, as it was called by 



The Parliament of 126^ 131 

the king's partisans. By the new scheme, the government 
was taken out of the hands of the king and intrusted to 
three committees made up of barons. This was an awk- 
ward and cumbersome device, sure to break down of its 
own weight. 

For five years England was governed in accordance with 
the Provisions of Oxford, but signs of weakness were soon 
manifest. Many of the barons were seeking their own ad- 
vancement rather than the national good ; and it was only 
by the combined efforts of Simon and Prince Edward, who 
had accepted the changes in the government in good faith, 
that they were brought in 1259 to extend to their vassals 
the concessions they had wrung from the king. Moreover, 
a breach soon appeared between de Montfort and the greater 
barons. They feared his ambition, and he accused them of 
treachery. Henry, faithless as ever, induced the Pope to 
absolve him from his oath and made repeated attempts to 
free himself from baronial control. 

In the hope of avoiding bloodshed both parties agreed 
to refer the dispute to Louis IX of France. Louis was a Bright, i, 
saint, but he did not understand the situation in England. ^62-168. 
He saw in the demands of the barons an attempt to restore 
feudal rule, and the judgment which he gave was in favor 
of the crown. Many of the great barons accepted the 
Mise of Amiens, as Louis's decision was called, but the 
others, led by de Montfort and supported by the lower 
clergy, the towns, and the universities rose in resistance. 
At Lewes, on the 14th of May, 1264, the two forces met; Lewes, 1264. 
the Royalists were completely defeated, and Henry and 
Edward were taken prisoners. 

The Parliament of 1265. — During the year following 
Leicester ruled England in the king's name, but his path was 
beset with difficulties. To strengthen his position he took 
the step which has brought lasting honor upon his name. 
Turning to the people, he called a Parliament to which, in 
addition to the baronage, he summoned two knights from 
every shire and with them two burgesses from every borough. 



132 



Struggle for the Charter 



, Evesham, 
1265. 



Stubbs, 
Early 

Plantagenets, 
pp. 202-205. 



Stubbs, 
Early 

Plantageitets, 
pp 210-215. 
Tout, 

Edward the 
First, 
ch. VII. 



Bright, I, 
193-196. 



Knights and burgesses had long met in the county court to 
discuss their common interests ; now for the first time they 
sat side by side with bishops and barons in the national 
council. It was the last despairing effort of the great earl. 
Already his government was giving way : the hostility of the 
Pope, the jealousy of the baronage, the loyalty of the nation 
to its king united to undermine his power. Within a few 
months the country was again at war, and the end came 
soon. At Evesham on the Welsh border, Simon met defeat 
and death (August 4, 1265). 

^ For a moment it seemed that the cause of freedom was 
lost, but Prince Edward, the victor of Evesham, stood ready 
to carry on Simon's work. The remaining years of Henry's 
reign were peaceful and prosperous. The strength of the 
opposition was broken with Leicester's death, and through 
the influence of Edward, already the real ruler of the country, 
many of the reforms for which the barons had contended 
were granted by a Parliament which met at Marlborough in 
1267. 

Edward I (1272-1307).- — With the death of Henry IH 
ended the days of foreign kingship. English in name and 
EngUsh in feeling, Edward I, greatest of the Plantagenets, 
stands out as a truly national king. A man of action, 
thoroughly in earnest, and convinced of the righteousness 
of his purpose, he was often impatient and high-handed ; 
but he was generous and wise and just, and not without 
reason were the words, Pactmii serva, inscribed upon his 
tomb by a later generation as the motto of his life. 

Legislation. — Edward came to the throne with a clear 
understanding of the task before him. He originated little 
that was new, but he worked out in detail, and adapted to 
the needs of his generation, the materials that lay ready to 
hand. It was an age of lawyers and law-making, and in 
this Edward typified his time. He has been called the 
English Justinian, and the far-reaching legislation of his 
reign makes it an epoch in English legal history. Edward 
developed the judicial system along the lines already laid 



Financial Measures 



133 



down, organizing the central courts of justice into three 
separate tribunals, the King's Bench, the Exchequer, and 
the Court of Common Pleas. He defined and Hmited the 
jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts, and by the Statute 
of Mortmain^ in 1279 restricted the giving of lands to the 
Church. Another important measure was the Statute Quia 
Emptores, which was enacted by Parliament in 1 290, seemingly 
in the interests of the baronage ; but the law, by putting a 
check on sub-infeudation, struck a fatal blow at the princi- 
ple of feudalism. 

By the Statute of Winchester (1285) Edward revived and 
organized the ancient institutions of police and defence. 
Every man was forced to hold himself in readiness to serve 
the king at home, and every district was made responsible 
for crimes committed within its bounds. " If any will not 
obey the arrest," so ran the statute, '' the officers shall levy 
the hue and cry upon them, and such as keep the watch 
shall follow with hue and cry with all the town and towns 
near, and so hue and cry shall be made from town to town 
until that they be taken and delivered to the sheriff." An- 
other provision throws light on the disordered state of the 
country : " And further it is commanded that highways 
leading from one market town to another shall be en- 
larged so that there be neither dyke, tree, nor bush, 
whereby a man may lurk to do hurt, within two hundred 
foot of the one side and two hundred foot on the other 
side of the way." 

Financial Measures. — Edward was quick to realize the 
need of financial reform. He caused the coinage to be re- 
newed, and ordered that, henceforth, its shape should be 
round to check the practice of clipping. Trade had become 
a matter of national concern. It was increasing, and the 
king's rights of prize were of great value.^ In 1275 Edward 
agreed to accept a specified custom in money in lieu of 

1 Private estates were often surrendered to the Church as a device for 
escaping feudal dues, 

2 Indefinite payments in kind exacted from native exports. 



Statute of 
Winchester. 



Stubbs, 
Select 
Charters, 
pp. 472-474- 



Stubbs, 
Early 

Pla>itage7?ets, 
pp. 215-220. 



1 34 Struggle for the Charter 

the old tolls. This was the origin of the Ancient Custom, 
henceforth an important part of the royal revenue. 
Green, In 1290 Edward banished all the Jews from the realm. 

pp. 223, 224. Economic considerations combined with religious feehng in 
Expulsion of this act. The Jews had always occupied a peculiar position 
the Jews, -^^ England. Since the Conqueror's day, they enjoyed the 
especial protection of the king, but they had no legal rights 
against him. Repeatedly the crown stood between them 
and the persecuting frenzy of the people, but in return had 
plundered them at will. In spite of this insecure position 
they had prospered greatly. The taking of usury was for- 
bidden to Christians, and the Jews became the national 
money-lenders. Religious fervor combined with jealous 
greed to rouse against them the hostiUty of the Church and 
the laity. Jewries were sacked by fanatic mobs and laws 
were passed circumscribing their rights. Finally Edward 
yielded to the representations of the clergy and the barons, 
and in return for a large grant of money, ordered their ex- 
pulsion from the kingdom. Some sixteen thousand went 
into exile, and for nearly four centuries no Jew set foot in 
England. 

The Conquest of Wales. — Edward was constantly drawn 
away from the congenial task of legislation by matters aris- 
ing outside of England. He was not indifferent to the fate 
of his French possessions, on the contrary, no English king 
did more for the welfare of Aquitaine than Edward I ; 
and although he strove to gain his ends by peaceful meas- 
ures rather than by war, he succeeded in making himself 
respected and feared abroad. But England was first in his 
plans, and he saw, as no one before him had seen, that the 
real interests of the island kingdom were bounded by the 
four seas. His foreign poHcy, in a word, was a British 
policy, the union of all Britain under one rule, and to that 
he subordinated all continental concerns. 
Green, The English kings had long claimed the princes of Wales 

PP- 1 5-190. a^s their vassals, and had often forced them to pay homage. 
By constant fighting the lords marchers (p. dd) had slowly 



REIGN OF EDWARD I 

SCALE OF ENGLISH MILES 
5 10 20 30 40 




4 Longitude West from Greenwich 3 



BORMAY & CO.,ENGR'S|N.Y. 



136 



Sti^uggie for the Chartei' 



Llewelyn. 
Bright, I, 
175-177. 



Statute of 
Wales, 1283. 



Green, 

pp. 204-209. 

Tout, 

Edward the 

First, 

pp. 164-175. 



gained control of the borderlands, until, by the thirteenth 
century, Anglesey and the adjacent country alone remained 
independent. During the reign of Henry III, the Welsh, 
under Llewelyn, Lord of Snowdon, came to the aid of de 
Montfort, and regained part of their lost territories. On 
the accession of Edward I, Llewelyn had refused to pay 
homage, but the vigorous measures of the English king 
forced him to full submission, with the surrender of much of 
his domain. Edward at once set about reorganizing the 
government of the conquered territory. In the reforms that 
he introduced he unwisely disregarded Welsh prejudices, 
and a formidable revolt broke out under the leadership of 
Llewelyn and his brother David. Edward now determined 
on the complete conquest of the country, since the lawless 
and turbulent princes were a constant menace to the peace 
of England. Every outbreak was sure of their assistance, 
every rebel found a refuge among them. It was plain there 
could be no lasting tranquillity until they were subdued and 
brought under English rule. 

Large forces were poured into Wales (1282). Llewelyn 
was killed early in the struggle, but David and his sup- 
porters, entrenched in the snowbound fastnesses of Snow- 
don, held out during the winter. In the following summer 
he was captured, tried by a Parliament convened at Shrews- 
bury, and condemned to death for having rebelled against 
the lord to whom he had sworn fealty. With David ended 
the last hope of Welsh independence. Edward had now 
free hand in Wales. Taught by experience, he did not dis- 
regard the customs of the country unnecessarily. By the 
Statute of Wales passed in 1283 the EngHsh shire system 
was introduced and the government placed in the hands of 
royal officials. To make good his hold upon the country, 
the king built a strong line of castles along the frontier, 
— Conway, Carnarvon, Harlech, and Beaumaris. 

Edward and Scotland. — During the thirteenth century, 
the diverse race elements of Scotland were slowly coming 
together and national feeling was growing, even though the 



Edward and Scotland 



137 



distinction between the Celt of the Highlands and the Anglo- 
Norman of the Lothians was still sharply marked. Long- 
continued peace had brought increased order and prosperity, 
yet as a whole the northern kingdom lagged behind the 
southern in social and pohtical development. The crown 
was weak, the baronage strong and unruly, there were few 
towns, and a middle class scarcely existed. 

For centuries the political relation of Scotland to England 
had been a subject of dispute. Relying on the tradition of 




4a- 






"pJ-.?3; 






'i 















Conway Castle 

■ Clark, MedicBval Military Architecture in Englatid 

the oath taken to Edward (p. 47), the English kings had 
always asserted a claim to overlordship, but the Scots had 
as steadily denied it. The oath of homage did not, as they 
understood it, involve feudal dependence. The question 
had been waived for many years, and frequent intermarriage 
between the royal houses had helped maintain friendly rela- 
tions between the two kingdoms. 

In 1286 the king of Scots, Alexander III, died, leaving Bright, i, 
as his only heir Margaret of Norway, a sickly child of three 1S0-1S6. 
years. She was at once proclaimed queen, and a regency 
governed Scotland in her name. Edward hoped to secure 
the welfare of the two kingdoms by uniting the two dynas- 




60RMAY 4 CO.,ENGR'S,N.», 



Renewal of War 139 

ties, and succeeded (1290) in negotiating the betrothal of 
the little queen of Scots to Edward, his son and heir. By 
the terms of the marriage treaty Scotland was to remain 
" separate and divided and free in itself, without subjection 
to the realm of England." 

Before the year was out, Edward's plans were unhappily 
set at naught by the death of the Maid of Norway. Mar- 
garet was the last of the direct royal line of Scotland, and at 
once a number of claimants to the crown appeared. Per- 
plexed, the regents turned to Edward for advice, but he 
refused to interfere unless his overlordship was recognized. 
To this the barons finally agreed, although the commons are 
recorded to have made some objection. His claims once 
accepted, Edward acted with fairness and wisdom, giving 
his decision finally in favor of John Balliol, grandson of John Balliol. 
the eldest daughter of David, brother of William' the Lion 
(1165-1214). The award of Norham was accepted by the 
Scots, and in 1292 Balliol was crowned king at Scone, and 
paid homage to Edward as his feudal lord. 

Renewal of War. — In 1292 Edward's power was at its 
height. His supremacy was acknowledged throughout the 
island, he had the good-will of his subjects, England was at 
peace at home and abroad. Nowhere was there a sign that 
the crisis of the reign was impending, and yet in a few years 
England had turned against him, Wales and Scotland had 
risen in revolt, and Gascony, the last of the continental 
possessions of Henry II, had fallen into the hands of the 
king of France. 

Quarrels between French and Gascon sailors (1293) were 
the beginning of trouble. Philip of France, ever on the 
alert to press an advantage, used the affair to assert his feu- 
dal rights as overlord, and on Edward's refusal to appear 
before him, invaded Gascony. Edward would have had 
little difficulty in resisting Philip had not disaffection in 
Wales and Scotland, fanned by the French king's • intrigues, 
tied his hands. 

All Wales rose (1294) in a despairing effort to throw off 



140 



Struggle for tJie CJiarter 



Green, 
pp. 209, 210. 
Tout, 

Edward the 
First, pp. 
185, 188-190. 



Alliance of 
France and 
Scotland, 



Green, 

pp. 194-201. 
Stubbs, 
Marly 

Plantagenets , 
pp. 221-227. 



the hated EngHsh rule, and during the winter months Ed- 
ward's resources were strained in the reconquest of the 
country. With the spring the rising was crushed, and Ed- 
ward turned to meet the greater dangers that threatened 
him in the north. The peace that had followed Balliol's 
coronation was not of long duration. With generous inter- 
pretation of his feudal rights, Edward had encouraged the 
appeals of Scots from the local courts to his own tribunal at 
Westminster. Balliol resented this, and was upheld in his 
refusal to appear before Edward to answer the charges 
against him, by the growing national feeling of his subjects. 
His resistance was made more formidable by the alHance 
concluded between France and Scotland in 1295.^ 

Conquest of Scotland. — For the moment, the Scottish 
uprising seemed to further Edward's plan for the consolida- 
tion of Britain. In the spring of 1296 he led an army over 
the border. The commercial town of Berwick surrendered 
after a three days' siege, and a few weeks later the victory 
of Dunbar put an end to the resistance of the Scots. Before 
the summer was over Balliol was a prisoner, and at a Parlia- 
ment held at Berwick the Scottish magnates took the oath 
of fealty to Edward as their king. The conquest of Scot- 
land seemed complete. Edward showed true statesmanship 
in his treatment of the conquered. English officials were 
placed over the country, but the people were left undis- 
turbed in their lands and their laws. r 

Constitutional Questions. — Edward was now ready to turn 
his attention to France, but a new danger confronted him in 
the rebellious attitude of his Enghsh subjects. Throughout 
his reign Edward had shown that the lessons of his father's 
rule were not lost upon him. He loved power, but he real- 
ized the necessity of securing the cooperation of his subjects 
in the government of the country, and he had repeatedly 
called together Parliaments more or less representative of 
the whole people to advise with him in national concerns. 



1 This was the beginning of a connection between the two countries 
which was to last for three centuries. 



Constitutional Questions 



141 



When in 1295 the king found himself attacked on all Tout, 
sides, he turned to the nation for support, and called to- ^^^^^^^ ^^^ 
gether at Westminster men of every class, recognizing their pp. 142-147. 



,C )i 



9 



^ Jfti feweffin 




Parliament of Edward I 

From an old print 



right to act in words taken from the Roman law, "What 
touches all. must be agreed by all." Bishops and barons 



142 



Struggle for the Charter 



Model 

Parliament, 

1295. 



Stubbs, 
Early 

Plantagenets, 
pp. 234-238. 



Tout, 

Edward the 
First, pp. 
184, 191-194. 



Tout, 

Edward the 

First, 

pp. 195-198. 



summoned by personal writ, met with representatives of the 
people, knights of the shire, and burgesses of the boroughs, 
summoned by general writ through the sheriffs ; the lower 
clergy also were represented. 

The meeting of the Parliament of 1295, the Model Par- 
liament as it is sometimes called, marks a turning-point in 
English constitutional history. From that day to this the 
form of England's national council has remained essentially 
unchanged, its place in the government has been scarcely 
questioned. 

Edward and the Clergy. — Edward's confidence in his 
subjects was not misplaced, since the Parliament of 1295 
voted him large grants of money ; but the next two years 
were full of difficulties which tested to the utmost the 
constancy of the king and the forbearance of the people. 
Throughout the reign the burden of taxation had been 
great, due in part to debts handed on from Henry's time 
and in part to the costly nature of Edward's enterprises. 
The demands upon the national resources were steadily 
increasing. In 1296 the lower clergy, led by the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury and relying upon papal support, 
refused an aid demanded by the king. In retaliation 
Edward issued a decree of outlawry against them, and 
soon brought them to terms. But disaffection wa^ spread- 
ing. Pressed for money, Edward had aroused the hostility 
of the merchants by seizing their stores of wool and leather. 
Many of his measures of reform were resented by the nobles, 
and when in 1297 he summoned them to lead an expedition 
into France, he was met by refusal. 

Confirmation of the Charters. — Edward found he had 
gone too far ; townsfolk and barons, clergy and laity, united 
in demanding that he should renew the Great Charter with 
additional clauses, limiting still more the royal power of 
taxation. Leaving his son and ministers to act for him, 
Edward withdrew to Flanders, and in October, 1297, the 
Confirmatio Cartarum was issued in his name. By this act 
the king bound himself never again to take " aids, tasks^ and 



War with Scotland 



143 



prizes, but by the common assent of the realm," nor to im- 
pose the maletot ^ on wool without the same consent. The 
Confirmation of the Charters stands as a landmark in Eng- 
lish constitutional history ; in Edward's concessions was 
summed up all that had been gained since the time of John. 

War with Scotland. — The remaining years of Edward's Green, 

reign were occupied by the struggle with Scotland. The PP- 210-213, 

229, 230, 
turbulent nobles resented Edward's orderly government, and 

the people, exasperated by the tyranny of his ministers. Bright, I, 

joined hands with them in an effort to make Scotland free. 189-192. 




BoTHWELL Castle, Northumberland 

From an old print 

Common hatred of foreign rule was creating a Scottish 
nation. Under the leadership of William Wallace, an out- william 
lawed knight, the general disaffection found expression in Wallace, 
open revolt (1297). For a time the Scots were successful, 
driving out the English, and even crossing the border to 
ravage the northern counties, Westmoreland and Northum- 
berland. Early in 1298 Edward, having settled his difficul- 
ties with France, led a large force of English and Welsh 
against the Scots. On the 2 2d of July the two armies met 

1 A new customs duty laid on wool. 



144 



Struggle for the Charter 



Falkirk, 
1298. 



Robert 
Bruce. 



Traill, I, 
440-450. 



at Falkirk. Wallace's reliance was his pikemen^ thrown 
into four great squares. The English horse charged in vain, 
and it was only when Edward, following the tactics learned 
in the Welsh wars, brought up his bowmen, that he suc- 
ceeded in breaking the Scottish lines, and in winning a brill- 
iant victory. But the Scots though beaten were unsubdued, 
and year after year the war was renewed. In 1304, think- 
ing the conquest achieved, Edward summoned a Parliament 
to which representatives of the Scots were called to draw up 
a plan of government for the dependent kingdom. The 
ordinance adopted was wise and conciHatory, but the time 
was not ripe for such a measure. Two years later Scotland 
rose in revolt, and rejecting the English rule chose as king 
Robert Bruce, grandson of one of the claimants of 1290. 
The whole work of conquest was to be done over again. In 
the spring of 1307, as Edward was leading an army north- 
wards, he died near Carlisle, leaving the Scots still defiant. 

England in the Thirteenth Century. — Edward I was the 
worthy son of a great age. The thirteenth century stands 
out as one of the creative periods in the world's history, re- 
markable for its achievements in literature and art and poli- 
tics. In England it was a period of unparalleled national 
and constitutional growth. The Great Charter, the struggle 
waged by Simon de Montfort and his party, the Model Par- 
liament, the Confirmation of the Charters are milestones 
marking England's progress toward constitutional liberty. 

Language and Literature. — The development of patriot- 
ism had not yet brought about the restoration of English 
as the national language. True, the year that saw the loss 
of the French provinces saw also the appearance of Laya- 
mon's Brut, the first English work since the Saxon CJiron- 
icles came to an end, and the Provisions of Oxford were 
published in the vernacular as well as in Latin, but the pop- 
ular tongue was not yet the speech of the court.^ Latin was 



1 Foot-soldiers armed with spears or pikes. 

2 There is no evidence that even Edward I understood a word of Eng- 



lish. 



A rchitecture 



145 



still the language of literature, while French was gaining 
ground in official and legal use. 

Architecture. — It was in architecture, and not in litera- Traill, i, 
ture, that the spirit of the time found its truest expression. 415-427. 
In the latter part of the twelfth century Norman architec- 
tural forms were giving way before a style more truly national. 
The restoration of Canterbury after the fire of 11 74 marks 



the transi- 
the pointed 
early Eng- 
tecture, was 
brilliancy of 
stone vault- 
Salisbury, 
the reign of 
ing exam- 
thirteenth 



tion from the round Norman arch to 

Gothic. Under John and Henry, the 

lish, the first purely indigenous archi- 

in its glory. Lightness, delicacy, the 

stained glass, the soaring vastness of 

ing, characterized the new order. 

Westminster, and Wells, all built in 

Henry HI, are splendid and endur- 

ples of the grand conceptions of the 

century. 




Salisbury Cathedral. Built 1220-1258 
The spire is of fourteenth-century date 



146 



Struggle for tJie Charter 



Important Events 
Reign of John, 1199-1216. 

Loss of Norman'dy, Maine, Anjou, Touraine, 1204. 
England surrendered in fief to the Pope, 1213. 
Signing of the Great Charter, 1215. 

Reign of Henry III, 1216-1272. 

Wise government of Hubert de Burgh, 1219-1232, 

Misgovernment of the king, 1232-1258. 

The Mad Parliament, 1258. 

Mise of Amiens ; battle of Lewes, 1264. 

Battle of Evesham ; death of de Montfort, 1265. 

Reign of Edward I, 1 272-1307. 

Welsh revolt suppressed, 1 282-1 284. 
Expulsion of the Jews, 1290. 
The Model Parliament, 1295. 
Confirmation of the Charters, 1297. 
The Scottish wars, 1295-1307. 




Seal of Edward I 



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Pi 
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Pi 
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Chief Contemporaries 14;^ 








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272. 


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CHAPTER VI 

THE RISE OF THE COMMONS 

Books for Consultation 

Sources 
Knighton's Chronicles. 
Walsingham, Historia Anglicana. 
Langland, Piers Plowman, edited by Warren. 
Froissart's Chronicles, edited by Berner. 
The Boy''s Froissart, edited by Lanier. 

Political Poems and Songs from Edxvard III to Richard III, edited 
by Wright. 

Special Authorities 

Stubbs, Early Platagenets. 

Longman, Life and Times of Edward III. 

Trevelyan, England in the Age of Wycliffe, 

Serjeant, y<9/^/^ Wyclif 

Powell, The East Anglia Rising. 

Gasquet, I'he Great Pestilence. j 

'QviXton, History of Scotland. 

Imaginative Literature 

Chaucer, Canterbury Tales. 
Marlowe, Edward II. 
Shakespeare, Richard II. 
Scott, The Fair Maid of Perth. 
Rossetti, The King's Tragedy. 
Morris, The Dream of John Ball. 

Characteristic Features of the Epoch. — The fourteenth cen- 
tury witnessed a momentous change in the relation of classes 
in England. As we follow the history of its wars and civil 
dissensions, it seems a degenerate age, a period of waste and 
decay, and certainly the court and the baronage lost much 

148 



The Right of Taxation 14Q 

in energy and prestige. If, however, we study the move- 
ments that agitated the lower ranks of society, we find symp- 
toms of growing power. The serf, the artisan, the small 
freeholder, the merchant, men of the industrial as distin- 
guished from the mihtary classes, experienced an increase in 
prosperity that gave them courage to strive for better things. 
The aspirations of the people found expression in diverse 
ways. Thought was quickened and ennobled, men sought 
to perpetuate ideas in books, and a national literature was 
born. The religious instinct was deepened, and a purer 
faith rejected the authority of a degenerate Church. The 
old restraints grew irksome, and men strove to free them- 
selves from the burdens imposed by lord and king, to secure 
social advancement and political influence. So it came about 
that in the last years of the century the people had grown 
strong enough to play their part in the long struggle against 
the arbitrary power of the king. 

The Right of Taxation. — Progress toward constitutional 
government was a direct consequence of the financial neces- 
sities of the crown. During the period under consideration, 
military expenses constituted the most serious item in the 
royal debit account. The determination to regain control 
of Scotland suggested perennial raids across the border, 
while the claim to the crown of France preferred by Edward 
III involved England in twenty-five years of war. The 
burden of taxation became well-nigh unendurable. 

The cost of martial expeditions was defrayed by grants 
voted in Parhament with little grumbhng, for the people 
were ready to pay taxes where the glory of the English name 
was at stake ; but the expenses of the royal household were 
not so cheerfully met. Men argued that the king should 
'' live of his own," that his court should be maintained out 
of the revenue from the royal demesne. Now the crown 
estates had been considerably reduced by sale and gift since 
the Conqueror's day, so that the private revenue of the sov- 
ereign had fallen off at the same time that the life of the 
court had waxed more luxurious. The ordinary income of 



REIGN OF EDWARD III 

SCALE OF ENGLISH MILES 
5 10 20 30 60 



EXPLANAXIOJl ,^^^^^^^ 
Enghnd ^^^ 



^ Principality of Wales ^^^ 

Marches of Wales. 




4 West 3 Lonjitiido 2 from 1 Greenwich East 1_ 



BORMAY & C0.,EN6R'S,N.Y. 



The Right of Taxation 



iSi 



the king, that from the royal estates, and from legitimate 
aids and customs, was probably at this time about ^65,000.^ 
Of this sum, from ;^ 10,000 to ;^ 15,000 was spent upon the 
royal household, the rest being devoted to the maintenance 
of the king's castles, the army, the navy, and the civil service. 
;^ 1 5, 000 was perhaps not an extravagant sum to allow for 
keeping up an establishment that must compare favorably 
with the courts of continental monarchs, but the people 
fretted under the burden, and a number of clumsy efforts 
were made to control the royal expenditure. 

The Charter confirmed in 1297 bound the king to levy 
no extraordinary taxes " without the common consent of 
the realm and to the common profit thereof." Edward I 
loyally observed the limitations so imposed, but his suc- 
cessors were less scrupulous. The king's lawyers were not 
slow to find means of evading the Charter, and the Parha- 
mentary records of the period abound in protests against 
illegal taxation. Exorbitant sums were exacted from the 
royal demesnes, where the people, being immediate depend- 
ents of the crown, could make no effective resistance ; new Traill, II, 
customs duties were imposed by special arrangement with ^^S- 
the merchants, export duties on wool and import duties on 
wine and other luxuries ; but the favorite device of a needy 
monarch was to borrow the money he could not raise by 
taxation. There was no lack of opportunity. The Jewish 
money-lenders, the never faihng resource of preceding 
kings, had been banished from England ; but there were 
Italian bankers and Flemish merchants who might always 
be relied on to accommodate a royal spendthrift, and the 
Pope himself was not averse to loaning money on good 
security. These debts were of course a charge on future 
revenue and must eventually be made good by taxation. 
Money was not unfrequently extorted from wealthy English 
prelates and the prosperous towns of the realm, on the Traill, ll, 
pretence of repayment, but subjects gave with a bad grace, 148-150- 

1 Money values must be multiplied by 10 to estimate the equivalent in 
money of to-day. 



152 TJie Rise of the Commons 

since the royal creditor had a poor memory for such 
obhgations and could not safely be pressed. The most 
vexatious resource, and that which roused deepest animosity 
among the people, was the so-called right of purveyance. 
On the magnificent royal progresses through the realm, the 
king's officers provided for the needs of his household at 
the expense of the inhabitants. Food and shelter were 
demanded at the lowest prices and with no security for 
payment. The carts and horses, even the personal ser- 
vices of the peasants, were called into requisition, not 
merely for the king's use, but at the convenience of any 
one of the royal officers who dared ask them in the king's 
name. This abuse of power was frequently protested, and 
reform was no less frequently promised, but since it was an 
ancient privilege and dear to the heart of royalty, it was 
not readily relinquished. No practice was better calculated 
to bring home to the understanding of the common people 
the inconveniences of tyranny. 
Green, Edward II (1307-1327). — These questionable preroga- 

pp. 225, 22 . -j-^ygg Qf ^Q crown were enlarged to dangerous proportions 
by Edward II. The foolish and incompetent son of the 
great Edward was not so much despotic as self-willed and 
Bright, I, indulgent. He looked upon his realm as a fair pasture 
197-199. wherein he and his friends might batten at their will. The 

prime favorite was Piers Gaveston, a needy French courtier, 
brilliant and lovable even at this distance [ of time and 
space, a loyal friend but a dangerous adviser. For this 
petted gallant, great estates were carved from the royal 
demesne. He was made Earl of Cornwall, and when the 
king went over-sea to bring home his French bride, Gav- 
eston was appointed regent of the realm. The gay Gascon 
showed little discretion. He boldly enriched his relatives 
at the expense of the royal treasury and flung gibes at the 
great English lords, reckless of their sullen wrath. 

His insolence soon involved himself and his master in 
Bright, I, difficulties. In 1310 a convention of the barons, under the 
lead of Thomas of Lancaster, the king's cousin, presented a 



200-202. 



The Loss of Scotland 153 

solemn protest. They complained that the people were 
burdened by heavy and illegal taxes, while the kingdom 
lay undefended, the money that should have been devoted 
to the Scotch war being wasted on unworthy favorites. The Green, 
king attempted no resistance, but allowed the government PP- ^26, 227. 
to be placed in commission for a year. Twenty-one Lords Lords 
Ordainers were appointed to act for the king, and a series Ordainers. 
of ordinances was drawn up which Edward was forced to 
confirm. Gaveston was banished from the realm, together 
with the Italian bankers who had connived at the royal 
extravagance. The king was forbidden to alienate the royal 
demesne and was told that he must hereafter '' live of his 
own." No unusual taxes might be levied, nor could the 
king raise an army, go to war, or quit the realm without con- 
sent of the barons. Parliament was to be convened at least 
once a year to consider such requests from the king. This 
was as signal a triumph as that won over Henry III in 1258. 

The Loss of Scotland. — The Ordinances gave the barons Green, 
control of the government, but the division of responsibility PP- 229-234* 
proved disastrous. When in 1314 news came that Stirling, Bright, I, 
the last stronghold of the English in Scotland, was about ^°3. 204. 
to fall into the hands of the Bruce, and the king, moved to a 
great effort, led an army to its rescue, the barons refused to 
follow on the ground that the Lords Ordainers had not 
consented to the war. The Scotch were not so divided. 
Noble and peasant fought side by side for a common cause, 
and in the battle of Bannockburn (13 14) they won an Bannock- 
overwhelming victory. The union of the two kingdoms, ^^™' ^3i4- 
projected by Edward I, was brought to naught. Even the 
oath of homage formerly rendered by the king of Scots to 
the king of England was henceforth withheld. The dis- 
content of the Enghsh found vent in frequent raids across 
the border, which were promptly retaliated in kind, and 
the whole north country was wasted by war for a century 
to come ; but the lost kingdom was not reconquered. In 
the bitter struggle against their would-be masters, the Scots 
sought aid in France. The alliance enhanced the dangers 




8QBMAY & C0.j.E«SR'8fN>''-» 



Civil War 155 

of the situation, since the French were now added to the 
ring of hostile Celts that encompassed the English domain. 

Civil War. — Meantime the quarrel between Edward and Green, 
the barons approached a crisis. The king refused to banish ^P' ^^7-229. 
Gaveston, and the favorite was seized and put to death by 
the irate barons (131 2). Edward was for the moment Bright, i, 
unable to retaUate, but when his new favorites, the De- 205-208. 
spensers, were attacked, he took up arms against his foes, 
got possession of Lancaster, and condemned him to be 
beheaded as a rebel against the royal authority. His exe- 
cution gave rise to a blood feud in which Edward's parti- 
sans were Hkely to be outnumbered. The Despensers had 
the good sense to see that the king's best course was an 
appeal to the loyalty of the people. A Parhament was 
therefore convened in 1322, the Ordinances were repealed, 
and it was decreed that all matters concerning the king and 
the realm must be enacted in full Parliament with the con- 
sent of the " prelates, earls and barons, and the commonalty 
of the realm." Thus the powers arbitrarily assumed by 
the barons were restored to the national assembly. 

This principle, if accepted in its full import by the king, 
would have guaranteed him against further revolt, but 
Edward's foolish fondness for his favorites had raised up 
foes in his own household. His queen, Isabel, resolving Bright, I, 
to avenge the slights put upon her, fled with her paramour, 209-211. 
Roger Mortimer, to France. Prince Edward joined her 
there, and the three concerted rebeUion. Landing on the 
south coast (1326), they were joined by the leading barons. 
London declared for the prince, the Despensers were 
hanged, and a Parhament was convened at Westminster, 
where the helpless king was forced to abdicate, and young 
Edward was proclaimed king in his stead. The principal 
actors in this poor tragedy were, it is true, inspired by self- 
ish and unworthy motives, and hardly deserved the success 
they achieved; but they wrought better than they knew. 
In appealing to Parliament to displace an unworthy king, 
the victors revived the ancient right of the nation and 



1^6 The Rise of tJie Commons 

acknowledged in the national assembly an authority supe- 
rior to that of the sovereign. 

Edward III (1327-1377). — Coming to the throne under 
such conditions, Edward III could not consistently dispute 
the authority of Parliament. Indeed, he was not the man to 
enter into a constitutional contest. The third Edward was 
by instinct a general, not a statesman, and his energies were 
absorbed in the long war with France. So long as Parlia- 
ment sanctioned his military enterprises and voted supplies 
for his army, he was ready to make any concessions required 
of him. 

The French Wars. — Of the continental dominions of 
Henry II, Aquitaine only remained, and this fair province 
was wavering in her allegiance and inclined to admit the 
suzerainty of the French king. Edward III was ambitious 
to restore the military prestige of his race, and entered 
thoughtlessly into the project of conquest which ultimately 
cost England dear. Grounds of quarrel were not lacking. 
.Bright, I, The aggressions of Philip VI in Aquitaine, his alliance with 
TrailTi'i 2 ^^^^ Scots, his demand that Edward should make good the 
damage done to French merchants by EngHsh sailors in the 
Channel, — all these were serious grievances, but they did 
not justify Edward's pretensions to the French crown. His 
claim ^ was based on the fact that he was, through his 
mother, Isabel, the only surviving grandchild of Philip the 
Fair, while Philip VI was but the son of a younger branch. 
The French courts repudiated the claim, citing the Sahc law 
to prove that the succession could not be claimed through a 
woman, but this was a mere lawyer's quibble. The essential 

1 Claim of Edward III to the throne of France : — 
Philip III, the Bold, 1270-1285 



Philip IV, the Fair, i28=;-i^i4 Charles of Valois 

I I 



I ! I I Philip VI, 1328-1350 

Louis X, Philip V, Charles IV, Isabel, m. Edward II I 

I3i4~i3i6 1316-1322 1322-1328 I John, the Good, 1350-1364 

Edward III I 

Charles V 



The Black Prince 



157 



Bright, I, 

224-236. 

Green, 

pp. 240-247. 



right of Philip, and that which Joan of Arc urged for his 
successor one hundred years later, was that the French 
people should be ruled by a French king. 

Victory was at first on the side of England. Having a pros- 
perous realm and a well-filled treasury, Edward could com- 
mand a loyal army. His troops were liberally paid for their 
service on foreign soil. Philip could bring against him only 
a feudal force. The bulk of his men were mounted knights, 
the unruly retainers of the great vassals. Discipline, gener- 
alship, were impossible. The battlefield ^ of Crecy (1346) Crecy, 1346 
proved the weakness of a feudal array when brought face to 
face with national troops. The EngHsh army was made up 
m great part of foot-soldiers, stout yeoman archers, who 




■MilllwIiyijiiiwwTOiPiiiimiPiiiiiipiiiiiiiiiiwiiiiwiiliMI^^ 

Effigy of the Black Prince 

steadily stood their ground, while the French chivalry 
pushed to the front in defiance of orders, ruthlessly treading 
down the Genoese mercenaries in their path. 

The Black Prince. — The hero of the French wars was 
the eldest son of the king, '' the Black Prince." Nothing 
more clearly indicates how distorted were the moral ideals 
of the age than the universal admiration of Prince Edward. 
That he was a brilliant and daring warrior was abundantly 
proved at Crecy and Poitiers ; but personal courage was off- Poitiers, 
set by a cruelty and greed that rendered him the prince of '356. 

1 The statement that the English used cannon at Crecy is probably a mis- Traill, II, 
take. They were used in sieges only at this date, 179-181. 




BOBMAY * C!0.,ENeR'8,N,Y., 



Results of the War 159 

plunderers. Rich booty was wrung from the unhappy peo- 
ple only to be spent in wasteful revel. The fairest districts 
of France were devastated to no military end, and the coun- 
try reduced to a state of famine. It was the vice of the 
times. Mediaeval chivalry imposed a high code of honor 
upon its devotees, but their superfine courtesy did not ex- 
tend beyond their own class. Peasants and burghers were 
thought creatures of another clay. Froissart lauds the gen- 
erosity of the Black Prince when, after Poitiers, he served 
the captured King John at a sumptuous supper, standing by 
his side with deferential solicitude. The aristocratic chroni- 
cler ignores the fact that the treasure dispensed in such 
royal fashion was wrested from a starving people. 

Results of the War. — After years of this wasteful and 
inhuman warfare, Prince Edward returned home laden with 
booty, but broken in body and spirit. The best blood of 
England had been spilled on the fields of France, but the 
country was no nearer submission than when the war began. 
By the peace of Bretigny (1360) Edward surrendered his Bright, 1, 233. 

claim to the French crown, and in i-^vi? a truce was agreed P^^<:^^^ 

^ '-^ ° Bretigny, 

upon which left the English in possession of no French ter- 1360. 

ritory but the seaports Calais, Cherbourg, Brest, Bordeaux, 

and Bayonne. 

The long and costly war was not merely fruitless : it was 
demoralizing. It is true that bravery and knightly honor 
were fostered by these years of desperate adventure, but the 
same conditions bred brutality and avarice. Campaigning 
at an end, the soldiers returned to England to spend in reck- 
less extravagance the wealth amassed abroad. 

Disastrous as were the French wars, they yet served one 
useful purpose. They furnished the opportunity for consti- 
tutional progress. Great armies could not be maintained 
without frequent appeals for money, and the ParHaments of 
this period were not slow to utilize such occasions for extort- 
ing concessions. Grants were voted only in return for re- Bright, I, 
dress of grievances, and the king was forced to surrender, ^^9. 221. 
one after another, the most cherished prerogatives of the 



i6o The Rise of the Commons 

crown. Exclusive right of taxation was accorded to Parlia- 
ment, together with the power to specify the object to which 
the supply should be devoted. The royal accounts were ex- 
amined by auditors appointed by Parliament, and the king's 
ministers were held responsible to the representatives of the 
people. These were great and important gains. They se- 
cured to the estates of the fourteenth century authority 
almost coextensive with that exercised by the House of 
Commons to-day. 

Organization of the Two Houses. — Forty-eight Parlia- 
ments were convened in the fifty years of Edward Ill's 
reign, and the mass of business considered rendered effec- 
tive organization necessary. The methods of procedure 
then determined upon are still observed, curious and anti- 
quated though many of them seem. By 1343 the represen- 
tatives of the several estates had established the custom of 
Bright, I, meeting in two distinct assemblies, the House of Lords and 
237, 238. ^j^g House of Commons. In the House of Lords, the hneal 

descendant of the Great Council, sat some fifty barons and as 
many great ecclesiastics, who together represented the inter- 
ests of a small fraction of the English nation, the privileged 
Green, orders. Knights and burgesses originally sat apart, as repre- 

pp. 247, 248. senting separate interests, but they gradually learned how 
much might be gained by alliance. The knight spoke for 
his shire and the burgess for his borough, but both stood 
for the interests of the middle classes as opposed to those 
of the barons and clergy. Their union in the House of 
Commons was an important step in the process of con- 
stitutional development. Jointly the two estates gathered 
courage to undertake reforms that neither would have 
ventured alone. 

Misgovernment of the King's Ministers. — The reign of 
Edward III, held to be so brilliant by contemporary annalists, 
drew to a close in grief and gloom. The last expedition to 
France had been a pitiful failure, and England was forced 
to sue for peace. The Prince of Wales was sick unto death. 
The old king was in his dotage. Ruled by his greedy, un- 



The Good Parliament i6i 

scrupulous mistress, Alice Ferrers, he weakly yielded to the 
clamors of the cunning parasites who battened on the royal 
treasury. Bribery, peculation, fraud, every form of corrup- 
tion, was rife at court. The ostentatious extravagance of 
the upper classes showed in startling contrast to the misery 
of the people. 

The government had fallen into the hands of John of 
Gaunt, a younger son of Edward III,^ and the ablest of 
his house. He made but selfish use of his great power. 
Allying himself in political trickery with Alice Ferrers, he 
winked at the malpractices of the court. When Farliament 
at last set about the work of reform, the Duke of Lancaster 
was recognized as a most dangerous opponent. 

The Good Parliament (1376). — The grievances of the peo- Green, 
pie were voiced by the House of Commons, now at last PP* ^49-251- 
grown strong enough to act in advance of the Lords. En- 
couraged by the support of Frince Edward, they presented a Bright, i, 
remonstrance, boldly complaining of the extravagance and ^39-241- 
corruption of the court and denouncing the king's ministers 
as evil counsellors. At first the reformers carried every- 
thing before them. Lyons and Latimer, officers of the king, Impeach- 
were accused of gigantic financial frauds, and solemnly im- J^^"| °^ 
peached. Heavy fines were imposed on Alice Ferrers and officers, 1376. 
others convicted of receiving bribes. A Council of Govern- 
ment was chosen, composed of men who could be trusted 
to guard the interests of the nation. Fetitions were pre- 
sented, one hundred and forty in number, protesting against 
the maladministration of the kingdom. The old king bent 
his head before this storm of indignation and granted all 
that was asked of him, but Lancaster bided his time. The 
death of Prince Edward that same year struck the ground 

1 The last of the Angevins : — 

Edward III 
\ 

I \ \ \ I 

Edward, the Black Lionel, Duke John of Gaunt, Edmund, Thomas, 

Prince, d. 1376 of Clarence Duke of Lancaster Duke of York Duke of 

I II I Gloucester 

Richard II, 1377-1399 Philippa Henry IV I I | 

Edmund Richard Anne 
M 



1 62 The Rise of tJie Commons 

from under the feet of the reform party. His son Richard 
was but a child of ten years, and John of Gaunt aspired to 
the succession. Hardly was the Good Parliament dissolved 
when its acts were arbitrarily revoked ; Alice Ferrers, Lati- 
mer, and Lyons were recalled, and the leaders of the reform 
party punished. Lancaster convened a Parliament the 
following spring, having first looked well to it that the 
representatives sent to the House of Commons should be 
such as would serve his purpose. From an assembly so 
packed no resistance was to be feared, and the necessary 
supplies were granted without resistance. So the first 
attempt of the Lower House to reform the government was 
undone because there was not in the representative body 
sufficient staying power for persistent opposition. 

Richard II (1377-1399). — Immediately on the death of 
the old king a council of regency was appointed with John of 
Gaunt at its head. His administration was far from brilliant. 
The war with France was renewed, but carried on with so little 
energy that Ghent and Flanders passed into French control, 
and the Flemish trade, a rich source of profit, was lost to 
England. France grew so bold as to undertake invasion in 
her turn. A force was landed in the Isle of Wight that 
ravaged the south coast. The formidable insurrection of the 
people that broke out in 1381, was in its poHtical aspects 
a protest against the misgovernment of Lancaster. 

The inconstant Gaunt went over-sea in 1386, to follow a 
wild-goose chase in pursuit of the Spanish crown, and the 
regency came to the hands of the youngest of the king's 
uncles, the Duke of Gloucester. Hitherto Richard had been 
Bright, I, allowed to choose his own ministers and to waste the royal 
24 -249- revenues unmolested. Inquiry was now made into the 

abuses of the court, and a council of reform was intrusted 
with the government. The king's effort to free himself was 
successfully withstood by the Lords Appellant,^ and the 

1 The five great nobles who brought accusation of treason against the 
king's counsellors, — Gloucester, Arundel, Warwick, Nottingham, and Bol- 
ingbroke. 




I 



Richard II 

Westminster Abbey. Perhaps the oldest authenticated Portrait in England 



Richard IPs Deposition 163 

"Merciless Parliament" (1388), acting at the instance of "Merciless 
Gloucester, impeached the friends and ministers of Richard Paj'^if^"^^"^, 
and condemned them to death. Thus far the young king 
had seemed a submissive tool in the hands of the party in 
power; but in 1389 he suddenly shook off the restraint of 
the Council, announced himself of age, and took possession 
of the government. 

The Absolutism of Richard II. — For eight years Richard 
reigned in accordance with constitutional forms, but, in 1397, 
this policy was sharply reversed. Having secured a long Bright, I, 
truce with France by his marriage with the daughter of 251-254. 
Charles VI, the king, reheved of the embarrassment of 
foreign war, found his hands free to strike the long-delayed 
blow at the Lords Appellant. One after another they were 
seized, executed, or sent into exile. A packed Parliament 
voted their condemnation, declared the acts of the " Merci- 
less Parliament " void, granted the king a wool subsidy for 
hfe, and vested the legislative power in a permanent com- 
mittee made up of twelve peers and six commoners. Rich- 
ard now seemed absolute. Taxes were levied without regard Green, 
to right or usage. Men were even compelled to sign blank PP- 27S-278. 
promises to pay, which the king filled up with the sum he 
chose. Richard's enemies were thrown into prison or sent 
into exile without show of right. 

His Deposition. — But the work of two centuries could not 
be so easily undone. The party of resistance found a leader 
in Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, son and heir of Henry 
John of Gaunt. This prince, exiled by arbitrary decree of Bolmgbroke. 
the king, returned in 1399 to claim not only his confiscated 
ancestral estates, but the crown itself. All elements of the 
opposition flocked to his standard, — outraged nobles no less 
than rebellious commons. Richard, betrayed into the hands 
of his foes, was forced to resign the throne. " Your people, 
my lord," said Lancaster, " complain that for the space of 
twenty years you have ruled them harshly ; however, if it 
please God, I will help you to rule them better." " Fair 
cousin," responded the helpless Richard, " since it pleases 



164 The Rise of the Commons 

you, it pleases me well." The king was tried in full Par- 
liament and declared to be "useless, incompetent, and 
altogether insufficient and unworthy." The grounds for 
deposition were faithlessness toward divers of the great 
lords, transgression of the constitutional rights of the nation, 
and the assertion of absolute sovereignty. It was the tragic 
failure of Edward II repeated, but with a deeper significance. 
We may see a Piers Gaveston in Robert de Vere and a 
Thomas of Lancaster in the Duke of Gloucester ; but Rich- 
ard was a stronger man than Edward. His real character 
and purposes are probably distorted in the partisan report 
given us by the friends of the rival dynasty. It is evident, 
however, that he definitely projected an absolute sovereignty. 
The victory of Lancaster may thus be justly regarded as the 
triumph of constitutional government. 

Intellectual Revival. — In the realm of thought as well 
as in that of , politics the influence of the people began to 
make itself felt. The barren controversies of the scholastics 
were cast aside by the new university students. Men turned 
from the contemplation of abstruse problems of theology to 
more vital social and moral questions. Human passions, 
human needs, the effort to realize happiness in this present 
life, — these were the absorbing interests of literature and 
polemic. Under the influence of the new humanism, 
writers for the first time gave adequate expression to the 
play of thought and feeling in the world about them, and 
there appears for the first time in England a literature to 
which we return with something more than intellectual 
curiosity — with a vivid interest in the men and women 
portrayed. 
Bright, I, It was most natural that this sympathetic literature should 

271-274. -j^g expressed in the speech of the people. The fourteenth 

century, indeed, witnessed the final triumph of the English 
language. Though Latin continued for some time yet to 
be spoken in the universities, EngHsh was by the reign of 
Green, Richard II commonly used in the lower schools, and from 

PP- 23s. 236. ^^^ |--j^g ^l^g native speech began to be used in Parliament 



Ch 



imicer 



165 



TrailJ, II, 
206-222. 



Prologue to 
the Canter- 
htiry Tales. 



and in the courts of law. French was still affected by the 
aristocracy ; but Chaucer and Langland and Wiclif, the great 
writers of the age, made noble use of the native tongue. 

Chaucer. — In Geoffrey Chaucer the effect of Norman Green, 
blood and continental culture makes itself felt by a light- pp- 237-240. 
ness and grace for- 
eign to the Saxon 
genius ; but in a cer- 
tain simplicity and 
sincerity of expres- 
sion, in the frank 
realism of his thought, 
he is wholly English. 
His Canterbury pil- 
grims prance gayly 
through blooming 
lanes to the music 
of song and bagpipe, 
shortening the way 
with merry tales. 
The characteristic 
figures of mediaeval 
English society ride 
in the picturesque 
cavalcade. First of 
the merry company 
appears the courte- 
ous knight who has 

proved his valor on many an Oriental battlefield. Well he 
loves " truth and honor, freedom and courtesy." He and the 
blithe young squire who holds pace at his side, " a lover and 
a lusty bachelor," represent the best fruit of mediaeval chivalry. 
The attendant yeoman, "clad in coat and hood of green," 
bearing in hand a "mighty bow," may well be one of 
those who fought at Crecy and Poitiers. Worthy to ride 
among the gentry, in his own estimation at least, is the 
merchant with forked beard and foreign dress, "boasting 




Chaucer 



1 66 The Rise of tJie Commons 

always the increase of his winning.". Of the gentry, too, 
are the sergeant of law, "wary and wise," a consequential 
body who ever " seemed busier than he was," and the 
doctor of physic who has grown rich on the Black Death 
and is dressed in scarlet and sky-blue silk like a great 
gentleman. The penniless clerk of Oxford bestrides a 
horse as lean " as is a rake." Hollow-eyed and sober, 
clad in threadbare coat, it is clear at a glance that like 
his great predecessor, Roger Bacon, he spent all he could 
beg or borrow " on books and on learning." A very differ- 
ent character is the fresh and ruddy franklin (freeholder), 
of excellent appetite, in whose hospitable hall it '' snowed 
of meat and drink." The worthy vassal of a great lord, 
he has many times represented his shire in Parliament and 
has even served as sheriff of the county court. Several holy 
personages adorn this worshipful company, — the fat monk 
with bald head *' that shines as any glass," an unlettered 
prelate, who dehghts in hunting and a good table and 
rejects monastic discipline as out of date. No less worldly 
is the prioress with her simpering smile and affected airs 
and graces, the sentimental Madame Eglantine, who wears 
a love-motto on her brooch and manages to give a hint of 
coquetry to the severe black garb of her order. A more 
arrant hypocrite than either of these is the friar, " wanton 
and merry," who sells absolution to his well-to-do patrons, 
holding that genuine penitence is evinced less iby tears and 
prayers than by "giving silver to the poor friars." Humble 
characters join this pious pilgrimage ; several craftsmen 
dressed each in the spruce livery of his fraternity, thriving 
fellows these, good guild-brethren and honest burgesses ; a 
pirate with sun-browned visage and viking beard, who sits 
his nag with a sailor's awkwardness — a hard drinker and a 
hard fighter he ; a reeve (bailiff), "a slender, colerik man," 
shrewd and thrifty, the dread of the tenants, who fear him 
as they fear the Pestilence ; and his fellow-extortioner, the 
miller, a short, stout rascal with cunning, brutal face, from 
whose foul mouth, "as wide as is a great furnace," low jests 



William Langland i6y 

and obscene tales reek forth. Their jovial peer in ribaldry 
is the good wife of Bath, a buxom dame of florid counte- 
nance, who ambles easily along in broad hat and scarlet hose, 
garrulous and grotesque. Among these lesser folk rides the 
"good man of rehgion," a parish priest, lowly but learned, 
and "rich in holy thought and work." His brother, the 
ploughman, is a simple peasant, who does his whole duty 
by God and his neighbor. 

It is a marvellously vivid picture, a panorama of mediaeval 
society, which teaches more of actual conditions than many 
a learned volume ; but it is after all a superficial view that 
Chaucer gives us. He does not adequately represent the 
forces at work in fourteenth-century England. His is the 
eye of an artist, delighting in the play of light and shade, 
and overlooking the sadder aspects of life. 

William Langland. — Not so Langland ; the rugged, in- Green, 
artistic lines of this poor village priest bear witness to the EP* ^uKf'^^' 
grim life-battle waged by the men of humble birth. The 225-228. ' 
world was to him no gay show where a man might look 
on at the play, a disinterested spectator. Chaucer could 
jest at the corruption of the clergy, the venality of the 
courts, the arrogance of the upper classes, the servile vices 
of the poor, for, well-fed gentleman that he was, his per- 
sonal happiness and that of his social order were not at 
stake ; but to Langland, born and bred among the peo- 
ple, making their struggle and sorrow his own, the misery 
of a world out of joint was a matter of galling personal 
experience. 

In the Vision of William concerning Piers Plowman, we The Pro- 
are shown, not a jocund cavalcade riding through April ^^§"^^0 
sunshine, but a panorama of busy toil. Wandering on the Plowman. 
Malvern Hills, bathing a troubled spirit in the beauty of a 
May morning, the poet sinks down in weariness by a brook- 
side and falls asleep. He dreams that the world lies before 
him, "a fair field full of folk." Toward the east, standing 
out clear against the sunlight, rises a tower, which is the 
habitation of Truth, the Father and Redeemer of men. 



1 68 The Rise of the Commons 

On the other hand the ground sinks to a deep vale where 
Hes a dungeon, " the castle of care." Wrong dwells therein, 
the Father of Falsehood, the Tempter. In the plain be- 
tween, all manner of men, the mean and the rich, are 
"working and wandering as the world asketh," unconscious 
of the influences that play upon them, moving them for 
evil or for good. Serfs toil at the plough, with rare intervals 
for pastime, painfully winning what their glutton lords will 
soon waste in revelry. Merchants buy and sell, making 
snug fortunes in thriving trade. Barons are here, and their 
bondsmen, burgesses and city rabble, side by side. All 
manner of artisans, men and women, ply their trades, bakers 
and brewers and butchers, tailors and tinkers and weavers 




Bakers and Cooks, a.d. 1338-1344 

From " Ms. Bodl. Misc. 264," in Green, Short History of the English People 

of woollen and linen cloth. These are thrifty craftsmen and 
well able to earn their own living ; but one [sees others, 
lazy louts, good for nothing but spading and ditching, who 
while away the tedium of the day's labor with ribald songs. 
Some there are who manage to live without work. These 
wander through the land singing gay glees in rich men's 
halls, or, feigning folly, earn many a good penny by tumbhng 
and jesting. Stout beggars, too, with whining lies, entreat 
the alms that will be spent in drunken riot. Here and 
there in the motley throng run cooks and their serving boys 
crying, " Hot pies, hot ! Nice roast pigs and geese ! Come 
and dine, come ! " while taverners stand at the inn door 
calhng out the merits of their choice drinks, the red wine 



William Langland 169 

of Gascony and the white wine of Alsace. Some, turning 
their backs upon such fleshly dehghts, give themselves to 
prayer and penance, hoping to " win heaven's bliss." A 
hundred or more sly fellows are hanging about, law ser- 
geants, "who plead a case for pence and pounds, never 
for love of our Lord." 

This picture of the world, as it looked to an honest 
priest, would be incomplete without the pious rout of monks 
and friars, pilgrims and palmers, that go to Rome, to do 
honor to the saints, and return with "leave to lie all their 
Hfe after " ; wanton hermits, long-legged lubbers, who, 
being too lazy to work, wear the celibate's habit and live 
at their ease; friars in plenty — "all the four orders" — 
preaching to the people for their own profit, interpredng 
the Scriptures to suit their own purposes. In the midst 
stands a pardoner, armed with a papal bull, and professing 
to have power to absolve men from falsehoods and broken 
vows. The ignorant people believe him and throng to his 
feet, bringing rings and brooches and hard-earned pennies 
to pay for the Pope's indulgence. Langland pours out the 
vials of his wrath upon the monks and friars. Toward the 
secular clergy he is somewhat less severe, but the parish 
priests are depicted as complaining that their people are 
too poor to support them and begging leave to go up to 
London, that they may win silver by singing masses for the 
rich in sculptured chantries. The superior clergy, too, 
desert their rural charges and flock to London with the 
rest, hoping for some fat office in the king's employ. 

Langland 's Vision was one of the most popular books of 
its day. Written in the rough vernacular, its alliterative 
verse caught the ear of the people and fixed itself in peas- 
ant memory. Reading was still a rare accomphshment, but 
this poet of democracy had disciples and interpreters who 
carried his message far and wide. Gathered about a tavern 
table or lounging on the village green, the group of rustics 
hstened while some gaunt clerk of Oxford read the story of 
the humble Plowman, the Christ returned to earth, who so 



I/O The Rise of the Commons 

gently teaches knight and cleric their duty, guiding wander- 
ing pilgrims to the well-nigh forgotten shrine of Truth. The 
seed so sown bore fruit in the Lollard movement and in the 
Peasant Revolt. 

Wealth and Corruption of the Church. — This is the de- 
generate period of the English Church. Wealth and power 
had so far contaminated the upper ranks of the hierarchy 
that the superior clergy regarded themselves rather as privi- 
leged recipients of the contributions of the faithful, than 
as the servants of the Church of Christ. The ambitious 
and the lazy found holy orders much to their liking, and 
crowded into the Church and the monastic establishments 
until they far outnumbered the rehgious requirements of the 
nation. Their maintenance imposed a heavy burden on the 
resources of the country. The Church held fully one-third 
of the landed property in England, while the income from 
the offerings of the people amounted to twice the royal rev- 
enue. Great ecclesiastics like Wykeham, Bishop of Win- 
chester, used the diocesan revenues to build magnificent 
additions to their cathedrals.-^ The beautiful churches 
they erected contributed more to the cause of art than 
to that of religion, since the cost was paid by a grudg- 
ing people. 
Green, The Popular Protest. — The influence of the Church over 

PP- 252, 253. ^j^g minds and hearts of the people was not strong enough 
to enable her to hold her own against the protest raised by 
the awakened thought of England. Chaucer's polished 
sarcasm and Langland's fierce denunciation were echoed by 
many lesser observers. Jests and gibes against the clergy 
found ready listeners in the hut of the peasant and at the 
court of the king. Yet the spirit of religion was not dead 
in England. Men knew and loved righteousness and pure 
devotion. " When all treasures are tested. Truth is the best," 
says Langland in the person of Holy Church, and Chaucer 
reverences the good priest who practised even better than 
he preached. 

1 The so-called perpendicular style is characteristic of this period. 



The Popular Protest 



171 




Nave of Winchester Cathedral 



Protest against the pretensions of the Church found ex- 
pression in deed as well as in word. Schools for secular 
education were opened at Oxford and Cambridge. More 
colleges than monasteries were founded, more hospitals than 



1/2 



TJie Rise of the Commons 



Bright, I, 

265, 266. 



Traill, II, 
157-160. 



The 

" Babylonish 

captivity." 



friaries.-^ A series of Parliamentary enactments undertook 
to restrain the power of the Pope and to check the worldly 
ambitions of the English clergy. The Statute of Praemunire 
(1353) forbade the reception or execution of bulls from the 
Pope, together with any appeal from English tribunals to the 
papal court. The Statute of Provisors (1351) denied to the 
Pope the right of appointing foreigners to English benefices. 
In 1366, the tribute of one thousand marks, which John had 
promised to the Holy See, but which had not been paid for 
thirty years, was refused once for all. The Good Parliament 
protested against other papal exactions. '' The Pope's reve- 
nue from England alone is larger than that of any prince in 
Christendom." God gave his sheep to be pastured, not to be 
shaven and shorn." In 1377 was mooted the question 
whether, in view of the impoverished state of the country, 
Peter's pence might not properly be withheld. Such bold 
defiance of the Holy See was justified in the minds of con- 
temporary Englishmen by the degenerate state of the pa- 
pacy. These are the years (1309-1377) of the " Babylonish 
captivity." The popes dwelt in exile at Avignon, an iso- 
lated bit of papal domain which lay so near the territo- 
ries of the king of France that it could hardly escape 
his influence. The English people scoffed at "the French 
Pope" and suspected him of being but a puppet in the 
hands of their foe. In 1378 began the Great Schism; 
and for fifty years thereafter the rival popes of Rome and 
Avignon contested the powers and privileges of the Holy 
See. This unholy dissension further alienated the loyalty 
of thinking men, till it became evident that reform could 
not long be delayed. The attack on the English clergy 
was led by John of Gaunt. The political honors of the 
great churchmen were intolerable to this ambitious prince, 
and he set about curbing their pretensions. A statute 
passed in 13 71 declared the clergy unfit to hold civil 



1 There were 78 colleges and 192 hospitals founded in England during the 
fourteenth century, but only 64 monasteries. 

2 20,000 marks a year were sent to the papal treasury. 



Wiclif and the Reform Movement 173 

office, and a tax was levied on Church lands acquired 
since 1292. 

Wiclif and the Reform Movement. — On the part of 
Lancaster and the lords, this assault on the power and 
wealth of the Church was not disinterested, but they found 
a champion whose single-hearted zeal for reform cannot be 




Wiclif 

called in question. John Wiclif, the first great protestant. Green, 
was a learned doctor of Oxford, whose fame had secured PP- "5i. 
him the honorable post of chaplain to the king. His views on 
the relation of Church and State had attracted the attention 
of John of Gaunt, and that crafty politician had bestowed 
upon him the doubtful favor of his patronage. Wiclif 
had ably seconded the endeavor of Parliament to restrict 
the privileges of the Pope and the English clergy, arguing 
that such power and wealth were inconsistent with the 



255-259. 
Trail], II, 
160-172. 



1^74 The Rise of tJie Commons 

teachings of Christ. The essential feature of WicHf s 
reform was the endeavor to recall the Church to Apostolic 
Christianity. Since God had revealed Himself as the Re- 
deemer of men, each human soul might have access to the 
divine life and was responsible to God alone. The media- 
tion of the priest was unnecessary, and the ecclesiastical 
hierarchy with its pride and its greed for power was a 
fungous growth upon the Church of Christ. The claim of 
a sinful man to act as viceregent of Christ was blasphemous. 
No authority could be legitimate that was not sanctioned 
by God. Ruler and priest alike held of him. Obedience 
need not be rendered nor tribute paid to an unrighteous 
lord, though he were the king himself. 

The Opposition. — Such doctrines quickly called down 
upon Wiclif the condemnation of the ecclesiastical authori- 
ties. The friars raised the first cry of alarm. Their 
bigotry and immorality had excited the indignation of 
Wiclif, and they writhed under many a scathing denuncia- 
tion at his hands. Now his bold utterances against the 
papal supremacy gave them opportunity for revenge. 
Courtenay, Bishop of London, the champion of clerical 
privilege and the sworn foe of John of Gaunt, summoned 
Wiclif to defend himself against the charge of heresy. 
Lancaster maintained his cause, and the citizens of London 
made a demonstration in his behalf ; but the accusation 
was renewed, and he was finally condemned (1382) by a 
synod of the clergy. 

The last eight years of Wiclif s life were overshadowed 
by persecution so persistent, so formidable, that a feebler 
spirit would have quailed before it ; but he maintained un- 
daunted confidence in God and in the truth as he saw 
it. The faith he defended grew clearer while he argued. 
Pardons, indulgences, pilgrimages, were one after another 
declared of no avail. The cUmax was reached when he 
boldly denied the doctrine of transubstantiation, the corner 
stone of priestly authority. At this his friends wavered. 
John of Gaunt protested and withdrew his support. The 



Lollardism 



i;5 



Peasant Revolt, which broke out at this inopportune mo- 
ment, was attributed to VViclifs subversive doctrines. The 
condemnation of the Church Council was at last accepted 
by the Oxford schoolmen who had championed his cause, 
and the great teacher was obliged to withdraw to his 
parish church at Lutterworth. Here, as if despairing to 
accomplish reform by the aid of princes and learned men, 
he devoted his energies to translating the Bible into the Traill, ii, 
speech of the people and to training disciples — his "poor 222-224. 
priests" — who should perpetuate his message. In 1384 




Preaching in the Open Air, a.d. 1338-1344 

" Ms. Bodl. Misc. 264," in Green, Short History of the English People 



he was summoned to Rome to defend his doctrines 
before the Pope, but a stroke of paralysis rendered the 
journey a physical impossibility. Condemnation was inevi- 
table. Wiclif died before the Pope's anathema could reach 
him, but his doctrine was denounced as heresy and his 
writings were condemned to be burned. 

Lollardism. — Not so, however, was the work of the great Green, 
reformer undone. The students of Oxford cherished his PP- 272-274. 
memory and the people secretly revered the valiant advo- 
cate of the rights of man against iniquitous privilege. . His 
" poor priests " became most zealous evangeUsts. They are 



176 



TJic Rise of the Commons 



Statute 
against 

preachers of 
heresy (1382) 
not assented 
to by the 
House of 
Commons. 



Traill. IT, 
153; cf. 290. 



described in a contemporary statute as " going from county 
to count}' and from town to town in certain habits, under 
dissimulation of great holiness, preaching daily, not only in 
churches and churchyards, but also in markets, fairs, and 
other open places where a great congregation of people is." 
The writings burned in accordance with papal decree were 
reproduced with marvellous rapidity, and copies of Wiclif s 
Bible were furtively read in the houses of the nobilitv, in 
the court of the king.-^ Knighton says, doubtless with 
some exaggeration, that every second man one met was a 
WicHfite. 




Spixxixg A^^TH a Distaff, early Fourteenth Century 

" Ms. Roy. 2 B vii," in Green, Sho-rt History of the English People 

Industrial Progress. — A reform movement of greater 
immediate result than that of WicUf and the Lollards was 
agitating the people during this vital centur}% The laboring 
population — the ignored nine-tenths of the nation — were 
waking to self-consciousness and striving to free themselves 

1 Anne of Bohemia, the first queen of Richard II, possessed a copy of 
Wiclif s Bible. Through her the works of the English reformer found their 
way to Bohemia, and there inspired the ill-fated protest of Huss and Jerome- 



Industrial Progress 



177 



from the fetters of feudal dependence. This upward move- 
ment had its origin in the industrial prosperity of the period. 
England was sufficiently removed from the imbroglios of 
the continent to escape the devastating wars that checked 
productive enterprise abroad. The quarrels in which the 
country was involved by the ambitious projects of her kings 
were fortunately fought out on foreign soil. They did not 
directly interfere with England's industrial development. In Traill, ll, 

the rei^n of Edward III an effort was made to advance ^00-107. 

^ . . Cunning- 

commercial interests, with a view to developing the tax- i^^m, pp. 74- 

paying power of the kingdom. Foreign merchants were 78- 




Spinning with a Wheel, early Fourteenth Century 

" Ms. Roy. 10 E iv," in Green, Short History of the English People 

admitted to full trade privileges within the realm, and, when 

they encountered the jealous opposition of the English Bright, I, 

traders, were taken under the special protection of the king. 255-259- 

Manufactures, moreover, were systematically encouraged. 

England had been, hitherto, an agricultural country, and 

the wool cut from the backs of EngHsh sheep had been 

sent to Flanders to be woven and dyed. Only the coarsest 

cloths were manufactured at home, for skill and implements 

were still of the rudest. With a view to developing this 

"infant industry," Edward III oifered asylum to Flemish The Flemish 

artisans, who, driven from their own land by civil strife, 

gladly availed themselves of the royal favor. They settled 

in London, Norwich, and the eastern counties, and gradually 

taught English workmen better methods of weaving. The 

N 



weavers. 



Green, 

pp. 213-220, 



178 



The Rise of tJie Commons 



same policy was carried out in this and later centuries by 
heavy duties imposed on the importation of foreign cloths 
and the exportation of wool. 

The Artisans. — The development of the woollen industry 
was accompanied by a marked increase in the numbers, 
wealth, and influence of the artisan class. The mediaeval 
workman occupied a very different position from that of the 
modern factory operative. Machinery had not yet super- 
seded skill, and labor, not capital, was the essential factor in 
industry. The artisan was trained for his craft by seven 




Iron Workers, a.d. 1338-1344 

"Ms. Bodl. Misc. 264," in Green, Short History of the English People 



years' apprenticeship, and might spend several years more 
in the trade as a journeyman laborer before his training was 
regarded as complete. The fully accredited workman, who 
had saved enough money to buy an outfit and hire a shop, 
could set up for himself as a master craftsman. As such, 
he bought his raw material, made it up with as much ex- 
cellence and beauty as his skill allowed, and placed the 
finished article in his own shop window for sale. With the 
increase of means, he added to the number of his looms, 
and hired journeymen or took on apprentices as they were 
needed. He was capitaHst, employer, and workman com- 



The Agricutturat Population 



179 



Traill, II, 
109-114. 



Cunning- 
ham, 
pp. 54-64. 



bined. Artisans who followed one craft soon saw the ad- 
vantage of uniting for the furtherance of their common 
interests. Artisan associations were formed in every town 
where there was a considerable body of men engaged in the 
same trade, and were called **' craftgilds " or " fellowships." Craftgiids 
Several such gilds trace their origin back to the twelfth and 
thirteenth centuries, but the political and economic condi- 
tions of the period under consideration were especially favor- 
able to the extension of the system. By the close of the 
fourteenth century there was hardly a trade or occupation 
that was not so organized.^ 

A monopoly of its particular industry was accorded to 
the gild, and it was held responsible by the town authori- 
ties for the honest conduct of that trade. Fraudulent sales, 
dishonest or bungling workmanship, were punished by fine 
or withdrawal of the gild privileges. Unruly members were 
tried by the officers of the gild, and then handed over to 
the town authorities for punishment. The craft, no less 
than the merchant gild, undertook the relief of sick or 
disabled members. Hospitals were provided and charita- 
ble funds, from which accrdental losses might be made 
good and widows and orphans pensioned.- These artisan 
associations acquired wealth and influence hardly inferior 
to that of the older trade gilds. They won coordinate 
part in the town government and in the election of the 
two burgesses who represented the interests of the munici- 
pality in Parliament. 

The Agricultural Population. — In manor as well as in 
town, new forces were coming into action, and the restricted 
conditions of mediaeval life were giving way before the aug- 
menting prosperity of the people. The serf population, 
ignored and despised by lord and townsman alike, with no 
voice in the local or national government and no recourse 



Bright, I, 
259-261. 



1 There were some eighty chartered craftgilds in London. Twelve of 
these still exist, viz. : Mercers, Grocers, Drapers, Fishmongers, Goldsmiths, 
Skinners, Merchant-Taylors, Haberdashers, Salters, Ironmongers, Vintners, 
and Cloth-makers. 



i8o 



TJie Rise of the Commons 



Traill, II, 
92-100. 



Green, 

pp. 260-262, 



Green, 

pp. 262-264. 



against oppression, was waking to a sense of its wrongs, 
making ready to assert its right to ''life, liberty, and the 
pursuit of happiness." Here, as in the town community, 
economic influences were at work that, by bettering the 
material condition of the people, inspired them with cour- 
age to demand freedom. Throughout the fourteenth cen- 
tury there was a general and increasing tendency to 
commute labor service for money. Just as the king had 
been ready to convert military service into scutage, so the 
lord found it convenient to receive a payment of silver in 
lieu of the labor hitherto extorted with difficulty from the 
reluctant cultivators of his manor lands. Wherever this was 
accomphshed, the demesne was tilled by hired laborers, and 
the proprietors in the common field were left free to care 
for their own holdings, still paying rent in money and 
produce. The thrifty serf was now in a fair way to become 
a small peasant owner, while his less industrious or less 
fortunate fellow might lose his claim to the land and drift 
into the class of free laborers. In any case a long stride 
was taken toward complete emancipation when a man was 
once rid of the old degrading services. 

Effects of the Black Death. — From two great disasters 
of the century, the famine (1313 and 13 15) and the Black 
Death,^ the working classes reaped an incidental advantage. 
The falling off in the number of laborers, especially after the 
Black Death, occasioned a demand for higher wages, which 
bailiffs were forced to pay or to leave the fields untilled. 

Alarmed by the exorbitant demands of their former bond- 
men, the landlords appealed to the king, who, without waiting 
to convene Parliament, issued an ordinance decreeing that the 
former rate of wages should be enforced. /' Because a great 
part of the people and especially of the workmen have 
lately died of the pestilence, many, seeing the necessity of 
masters and the great scarcity of servants, will not serve 



Traill, II, 1 A mysterious pestilence from the Orient that devastated Europe in the 

133-136. fourteenth century. It first appeared in England in 1348, and swept away 

half the population in the next few years. 



The Peasants' Revolt i8i 

unless they may receive excessive wages," and considering 
the " grievous incommodities " which from the lack " espe- 
cially of plowmen and such laborers may hereafter come," 
" the king ordains that every man and woman of whatso- 
ever condition he be, bond or free, able in body and within 
the age of three-score years, not living in merchandise, not 
exercising any craft, nor having property of his own whereof 
he may live, nor land of his own to till," shall be bound to statute of 
serve the lord who shall require his labor and to take only Laborers. 
such wages as were customarily paid in his parish before the 
Pestilence. Laborers refusing to work on these terms were 
liable to imprisonment, and masters offering more than the 
legal rate of wages should forfeit double the sum so paid. 
The artificers and workmen of the towns were made subject 
to like restrictions and penalties. The ordinance was ap- 
proved by Parhament (1351) and ten statutes to the same 
import were enacted within the next fifty years, each impos- 
ing heavier penalties than the last, but in vain. Wages rose Traill, 11, 
steadily from an average of threepence a day, in the begin- ^37-146. 
ning of the century, to sixpence at its close. The several 
Statutes of Laborers were so many attempts to dam an in- 
coming tide. The workmen had the vantage-ground, and 
were able to enforce their claims. There is evidence to 
show that they combined to resist any return to the old 
rates, forming organizations quite comparable to the modern 
trades-unions. Violent outbreaks were not infrequent. The 
employing class took alarm, and, being all-influential in 
Parhament, passed, in 1360, the statute against "covin and 
conspiracy," which declared alliances of workmen against 
their masters illegal. 

The Peasants' Revolt. — Legislation could not, however, 
prevent combination among men who suffered the same wrongs 
and hoped for a common remedy. Secret associations were Green, 
formed, with recognized leaders and pass-words. It is proba- PP- 266-26 
ble that the more radical of the Lollard priests aided the ^ 
movement and served as messengers between the different 
sections of the country. Wiclifs saying, that obedience was 



1 82 The Rise of the Commons 

not due to an unrighteous lord, was interpreted as justifying 
revolt. Matters came to a crisis in 1381, when the people 
rose in insurrection. Adequate cause for the rising may be 
found in the discontent of the hired laborers and the pro- 
tests of the villeins against the ignoble services still exacted 
Bright, I, by their lords ; but the immediate occasion was the imposi- 
243-245- tJQj^ Qf ^i^g pqIi |-^x of 1380. An attempt had been made to 

distribute the burden according to wealth and station ; the 
rich merchant or landowner was to pay sixty groats/ the 
poorest workman no less than one. For every child above 
fifteen years the tax was enacted. This was far more just 
than previous levies, but to the aggrieved peasant, the tax 
was exorbitant, and its ruthless collection seemed the last un- 
Traiii, II, endurable grievance. The revolt broke out simultaneously 
242-252. -j^ Kent, Essex, and Hertfordshire, and spread with mar- 

vellous rapidity into all the southeastern counties. There 
were similar risings in districts as remote as York and Lan- 
cashire and Devon. All accounts of the insurrection are 
written from the view-point of the landowner or the ec- 
clesiastic, and it is consistently represented as a wicked 
rebellion against the constituted authorities of Church and 
State. 

The insurgents first attacked the manor houses, and did 
considerable damage, being bent on destroying the court- 
rolls which recorded the ancient servile dues. Then they 
set out for London, marching in scattered detachments, 
village by village. Their leader, Wat Tyler, whom Froissart 
describes as " a bad man and a great enemy to the nobihty," 
Froissart's had learned something of generalship in the French wars. 
Arrived at London, a rabble of some one hundred thousand 
men, not one in twenty armed, they found the gates closed 
and the government prepared for resistance. The common 
people of London, however, sympathized with the revolt. 
In response to their protests, the gates were opened and 
the insurgents entered the city. Some violence was inevi- 
table. Savoy Palace, the residence of John of Gaunt, was 

IThe groat was a coin worth i\d., or nearly 4^-. in money of to-day. 



account. 



account. 



The Peasants' Revolt 183 

burned. The Archbishop of Canterbury, who, as king's 
chancellor, had proposed the poll tax, was beheaded, to- 
gether with many lawyers and some unfortunate Flemings 
and Lombards. Meanwhile, the king and his counsellors, 
safely ensconced in the Tower, debated what might be 
done. Should they gather the nobles and their retainers, 
and, falling upon the rebels in the night, kill them " hke 
flies " ? This they dared not do for fear of the sympathetic 
populace. It was determined to treat with the enemy, and 
the king sent orders that the insurgents should retire to "a Froissarfs 
handsome meadow at Mile-end,^ where, in the summer, people 
go to amuse themselves." Arrived at the place, the young 
king rode forward bravely enough, saying : " My good peo- 
ple, I am your king and your lord ; what is it that you want, 
and what do you wish to say to me?" Those who heard 
him answered : " We wish thou wouldest make us free for- 
ever, us, our heirs, and our lands, and that we should be no 
longer called slaves nor held in bondage." The king re- 
plied : " I grant your wish ; now, therefore, return to your 
homes, leaving two or three men from each village ... to 
whom I will order letters to be given, sealed with my seal 
. , . with every demand you have made fully granted." 
Thirty secretaries were immediately set to work to draw up 
the charters of manumission, and the greater part of the 
people departed for their homes, saying : " It is well said ; 
we do not wish for more." Then the king's party threw off 
the mask of courtesy and good humor. Wat Tyler was 
foully murdered. Jack Straw, John Ball, and other ring- 
leaders were seized and executed without form of trial; 
many serfs suffered death at the hands of their outraged 
masters. The villeins had no resource, since the land- 
owners were all-influential in both houses of Parliament. 
The charters of manumission were revoked on the ground 
that they were granted by " compulsion, duress, and men- 
ace," and an act of pardon was passed, exempting from 
blame and penalty any lords and gentlemen who, in the 

iThis is now one of the most densely populated districts of London. 



1 84 



TJie Rise of tJie Coimnons 



Cunning- 
ham, 
pp. 41-45. 



emergency, had taken the law into their own hands and in- 
flicted bodily injury on their bondmen. 

So were the people outwitted and the insurrection crushed 
in blood. The dominant classes proved too strong to be 
withstood. It is quite probable that fear of another rising 
induced many a lord to abate his claims, but he would still 
enforce what he could, and in remote districts of England 
serf-labor persisted into the sixteenth century.^ The event- 
ual emancipation of the serfs was due, not to insurrection or 
legislation, but to a change in industrial conditions that ren- 
dered serf-labor no longer profitable. 




Specimen of Early Cannon 



Genealogical Table 

Henry III 



Edward I, 1274-1307 

Edward II, 1307-1327 

I 
Edward III, 1327-1377 



Edmund, 

I Earl of Lancaster 

Thomas, 

Earl of Lancaster, 
beheaded 1322 



Edward, the Black 
Prince 



Lionel, Duke 
of Clarence 

I 



Richard II, 1377-1399 Philippa 



John of Gaunt, Edmund, Thomas, 

Duke of Lancaster Duke of York Duke of 

I Gloucester 
Henry IV, 1399-1413 



1 Queen Elizabeth enfranchised the bondmen on the royal estates in 1574. 



Important Events 185 

Important Events 
Reign of Edward II, 1307-1327. 

The Ordinances, 131 1. 
Battle of Bannockburn, 1314. 
Downfall of Lancaster, 1322. 
Deposition of the king, 1327. 

Reign of Edward III, 1327-1377. 

The French Wars, 1336-1347, 1354-1360, 1368-1375. 
The Black Death, 1348, 1361, 1369. 
The Good Parliament, 1376. 

Reign of Richard II, 1377-1399. 

The French Wars, 1 378-1 389. 
The Peasant Revolt, 1381. 
The death of Wiclif, 1384. 
The Merciless Parliament, 1388. 
Richard assumes the government, 1389. 
The king's coup d''Hai^ 1397- 
Deposition of the king, 1399. 



1 86 The Rise of the Commons 






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Em 









<l 



•J 



8 ^ 

02 



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« 






CHAPTER VII 

DYNASTIC WARS 

Books for Consultation 

Sources 

Walsingham, Historia Anglicana. 

Elhatn, MeiJiorials of Henry the Fifth. 

William of Worcester, Chronicle. 

Continuator of the Croyland Chronicle. 

Sir Thomas More, Edtvard V. 

The Paston Letters. 

Wright, Political Poems and Songs from Edward III to Richard III. 

Special Authorities 

Hasted, Life of Richard III. 

Blades, Caxton. 

Green, Toxvn Life in Fifteenth Century, 

Oman, Warwick. 

Denton, The Fifteenth Century. 

Imaginative Literature 

Shakespeare, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Richard III. 
Lord Lytton, The Last of the Barons. 

Characteristics of the Epoch. — The fair promise of the 
fourteenth century was destined to failof fulfihnent. The 
hopes and aspirations awakened in the good times of 
Edward I were undone by the great calamities which fell 
upon the land in the reign of his successors. War, pesti- 
lence, and famine wrought their hideous work, sapping the 
energies that should have gone into progress and expansion. 
The forward movement toward political, religious, and in- 
dustrial freedom proved premature and abortive. In the 

187 



1 88 Dynastic Wars 

fifteenth century the best achievements of the preceding 
age were rendered void. Degeneration and decay charac- 
terized every aspect of the national life. Politics dwindled 
into mere strife of faction, worship passed into formalism, 
the literary impulse ebbed, and social relations became 
demoralized even to brutality. 
Bright, I, Henry IV (1399-1413). — The first Lancastrian came to 

275. 276. ^^ throne pledged to respect the constitutional rights of 

the nation. His usurpation was a protest against the mis- 
government of Richard II, and success was achieved by 
the support of the Lords Appellant. At his coronation, he 
confirmed the ancient laws and charters, and promised to 
govern, not according to his own arbitrary pleasure but by 
advice of the estates assembled in Parliament, and loyally 
did the king keep his word. Constitutional forms were 
scrupulously observed. Taxes were levied and laws were 
passed in accordance with legal requirements. The Com- 
mons attained an influence in legislation equal to that of 
the Upper House, and the right of the people's representa- 
tives to a voice in all matters of national interest was fully 
conceded. 
Traill, II, Henry IV held the crown by the will of the nation, not 

277-288. i^y hereditary right. This was the secret of his deference 

to Parliament. This, too, was the reason for his weak 
compliance to less legitimate demands. The king was 
forced to make terms with factions in the State, and 
never summoned courage to overrule them. He was under 
heavy obligations to the great lords and prelates who had 
combined to depose Richard, and was fain to reward their 
zeal by rich booty in titles and estates. Arundel -^ was made 
Archbishop of Canterbury, while the Percies ^ and the Ne- 
villes^ were given ample assurance of the king's favor. 
The pensions granted in the first year of the reign amounted 
to more than the king's total income. The consequent 

1 Brother of the Lord Appellant of that name. 

2 The great family of Northumberland, 
§ The great family of Westmoreland, 



Insurrection 189 

requests for additional taxes soon quenched the loyalty 
called forth by Henry's regard for constitutional forms. 

Statute against Heretics. — The king's account with the 
Church was settled by prompt legislation against Lollardry. 
Previous measures of repression had been ineffective. The Traill, li, 
doctrine of Wiclif was preached through the length and 287-293- 
breadth of the land, and the reformed faith was being 
accepted not only by peasants and artisans, but by learned 
doctors and court nobility. The clergy, in alarm, appealed 
to the king to reenforce the ecclesiastical sentence by civil 
penalty. Henry had inherited nothing of his father's quar- 
rel with the Church, and saw in the Lollards only dangerous Green, 
adherents of Richard. He readily lent his influence to the pp- 278-280. 
petition which resulted in the first act against heresy in- 
scribed among English statutes (1401). The confirmed 
heretic was to be burned to ashes in some high place before 
the eyes of the people, in order to strike fear to the hearts 
of any who might be wavering in the faith. Legislation 
restricting the privileges of the clergy would have been 
more popular. When, however, the Commons petitioned 
that the wealth of the Church should be confiscated to the 
uses of the State, the king sent answer that " from thence- 
forth they should not presume to study about any such 
matters." 

Insurrection. — Not all these efforts to conciliate the Bright, i, 
influential classes could guard the new-made king against 
rebellion. Richard's friends soon gathered courage to 
assert his right to the throne. The unhappy prince was 
secretly murdered the year after his deposition, but his 
partisans would not believe he was dead. Rumors that 
Richard was alive, that he had been seen in Scotland, that 
he was rallying his forces at Chester, were rife in the land. 
A pretender found eager champions at the Scottish court, 
where Henry's reassertion of overlordship had revived all 
the old hostility to England. The traditional feud found Border raids. 
vent in a series of border raids which came to nothing, but 
the English had the good fortune to get possession of young 



190 



Dynastic Wars 



Traill, II, 
282-287. 

Glendower's 
rebellion. 



Prince James, the heir-apparent (1405), and kept him twenty 
years a prisoner as hostage for the good behavior of .the 
Scots. 

The weakness of Henry's administration and the conse- 
quent misrule of the Lord Marchers occasioned revolt in the 
west. Under Owen Glendower, a patriotic gentleman and 
a former squire of Richard, the Welsh maintained for fif- 
teen years (1400-14 15) a practical independence. In 
1403, the Percies, whose allegiance the king had thought 
secure, proclaimed the young Earl of March ^ rightful heir 
to the throne. Northumberland rose at their call, the in- 
surgent Welsh and Scotch joined forces with them, and 
though young Hotspur fell in battle, and his fellow-con- 
spirator, Scrope, Archbishop of York, was beheaded by 
order of the king's justices, it was years before the revolt 
could be suppressed. Across the Channel, too, the foes of 

1 The rival dynasties : — 

Edward III 



Clarence 



I 
Gaunt 



By Blanche of Lancaster, 

Henry IV, 
1399-1413 

I 
Henry V, 
1413-1422 

I 
Henry VI, 
1422-1471 

Edward, 

slain at 

Tewkesbury, 

1471 



By Katherine Swynford 
(illegitimate) 

I 

John Beaufort, 

Earl of Somerset 

II 

John Beaufort, 

Duke of Somerset 

II 

Margaret Beaufort, 

m. Edmund Tudor, 

Earl of Richmond 

Henry VII, 
1485-1509 



Edmund Mortimer, 

Earl of March, 

died, 1424 



Anne Mortimer 



Edward IV, 
1461-1483 



George, 

Duke of Clarence, 

murdered, 1478 



Elizabeth, 
m, Henry VII 



Edward V, Richard 

murdered, 

1483 



Edward, 

Earl of Warwick, 

beheaded, 1499 



Margaret, 

beheaded, 

1541 



York 



Richard, 

Earl of Cambridge, 

m. Anne Mortimer, 

beheaded, 1415 

I 

Richard, 

Duke of York, 

slain at 
Wakefield, 1460 



Richard III, Duke 
of Gloucester, 

1483-1485, 

slain at 

Bosworth, 

1485 

I 

Edward, died, 

1484 



The French War 



191 



Bright, I, 
282-286. 



England were astir. The king of France, whose daughter 
was Richard's queen, protested against Henry's usurpation, 
and sent aid to the Welsh insurgents. The Gascon cities 
that had remained loyal to the English mistrusted the new 
dynasty and lent ear to overtures from France. 

One by one all dangers were averted, all enemies out- 
witted, reconciled, or destroyed, and the realm won over 
to the house of Lancaster. But the task wore out the king's 
life. Haunted by secret doubts as to his right to the crown, 
weighed down by a disease which his superstitious con- 
temporaries believed to be the judgment of God, he grew 
jealous and suspicious, fearing to be displaced in his turn 
by the popular heir-apparent. " He reigned thirteen years, " 
says Holinshed, "with great perplexity and little pleasure," 
but he left a well-founded inheritance to his son. 

Henry V (1413-1422). — The second Lancaster was a Bright, I, 
man of different temper. Able, upright, and generous, a ^^7, 288. 
brilliant warrior and a popular ruler, he was the best king 
of his line. Prince Hal, the gay and mischievous youth 
whom Shakespeare depicts as Falstaff's boon companion, 
was suddenly sobered by the responsibility of kingship. 
''He was changed into another man," says Walsingham, 
''studying to be honest, grave, and modest." Disturbing 
questions as to dynastic right died into silence before the 
popularity of the brave, self-confident young king. The 
Earl of March was received into royal favor, and the con- 
spiracy undertaken in his name by his brother-in-law, the 
Earl of Cambridge, was readily brought to naught. 

The king's championship of orthodoxy doubtless added 
greatly to the security of his administration. The statute 
against heretics was reenacted in 1414, and a formidable Traill, II, 
rising under Sir John Oldcastle was quashed by Henry's 293. 
prompt interference. The leaders were put to death and 
the movement so discredited that Lollardry never again Lollard plot, 
figured as a menace to the established order. Religious 
discontent smouldered in secret until the Reformation. 
The French War. — The renewal of the French war was 



10 Longitude from 5 Greenwich y\(n\ ^ 




BORMAY & CO.,£NGR'SiN.Y, 



The French War 



193 



another popular measure. Henry's claim to the French 
throne was slighter than that of Edward III and had even 
less chance of success; but its assertion was eagerly ap- 
plauded by Englishmen of the day. The war with France 
had become, a national feud that must be prosecuted with- 
out regard to consequences. The barons welcomed the 
opportunity to win fame and plunder, while the clergy were 
glad to divert attention from a second proposal to confiscate 
ecclesiastical revenues by voting taxes for the French cam- 
paigns. The war, so cordially undertaken, was carried to 
a brilliant conclusion. The battle of Agincourt (14 15) 
was a repetition of Crecy. Once again English yeomen 
overthrew the mailed knights of the French array with well- 
directed shots from their long-bows, and once again the 
English army, invincible in battle, was destroyed by famine 
and disease. Good fortune, rather than valor, gave Henry 
the ultimate victory. France was demoralized by civil 
strife. The king, Charles VI, was imbecile, and the king- 
dom was divided between hostile factions. The cities were 
reduced to anarchic misrule, while the country lay waste 
and desolate. A land so distraught was not difhcult to 
bring to terms. In 1420 the treaty of Troyes was concluded. 
Princess Catherine was given to the king in marriage, the 
rights of the Dauphin were set aside, and it was agreed 
that Henry was to succeed to the throne on the death of 
Charles VI. 

The next year the king came home, accompanied by his 
fair French bride. He was joyfully greeted by a people 
intoxicated with triumph, but a sinister fate awaited him. 
Returning to France the same year to pursue the conquest of 
the south, he fell ill and died only two months before the 
mad monarch whose crown he expected to inherit. Henry V 
had dreamed of reducing his French dominions, not merely 
to submission, but to order and renewed prosperity; of car- 
rying the terror of the English name to the far East; of 
conquering the Turks and restoring the Holy Sepulchre to 
Christian keeping; but all these great projects came to 
o 



Bright, I, 
289-302. 



Green, 
pp. 280-2E 



Agincourt, 

1415- 
Traill, II, 
321-329. 



Treaty of 
Troyes, 1420. 



Traill, II, 
296, 297. 



194 



Dynastic Wars 



Bright, I, 
303-306. 



nothing, for the king was cut off in the first flush of 
success before his initial conquests could be secured. 

Henry VI ( 1 422-1 471). — England was undone by his 
death. The Prince of Wales was but nine months old, 
and the realm was exposed to all the difficulties and dangers 
of a long minority. Parliament vested sovereign authority 
in a council of regency, appointing the late king's brothers, 
the Dukes of Bedford and Gloucester, to the government 




I 



Magdalen Cloisters 



of France and England respectively. Humphrey, Duke of 
Gloucester,^ was a vain, ambitious prince who did not hesi- 
tate to sacrifice the peace of the country to his own ad- 
vancement. He was soon engaged in a fierce quarrel with 
Bishop Beaufort, the chancellor and his rival in the gov- 
ernment. The feud, ceasing only with the death of the 
principals, occupied the first twenty-five years of this un- 

1 Duke Humphrey was a generous benefactor of the Bodleian Library at 
Oxford. 



Loss of the French Possessions IQ^ 

happy reign, and involved the council, the court, and 
ultimately the dynasty in its fatal toils. 

Loss of the French Possessions. — Meanwhile, Bedford 
was spending his splendid energy and sorely needed wis- 
dom in the vain endeavor to retain the French conquests. 
The fortunes of France had touched lowest ebb in the treaty 
of Troyes. With the death of the mad king, courage re- 
vived, and loyal Frenchmen turned to the Dauphin as the Joan of Arc. 
hope of the nation. Awakened patriotism found expression ^^'g^*' I' 
in the self-forgetting zeal of Joan of Arc, the peasant girl Gree^n, * 
of Domremi, who believed herself sent by God to restore pp- 287-293. 
the rightful king, and inspired the dejected forces of the 
Dauphin with such enthusiasm as enabled them once more 
to win victories from the English. A besieging force was 
driven back from Orleans, the strong city of the loyal 
south; the Dauphin was carried to Rheims, and there 
triumphantly crowned in the heart of the enemy's country, 
while one after another the fortified cities were recovered 
from the English garrisons. Not even the capture and 
barbarous execution of the Maid of Orleans could daunt 
the waxing courage of the French, while the death of the Traill, il, 
Duke of Bedford removed the single element of strength 297-304. 
in the English army. Paris was lost in 1436, and Eng- 
land's possessions in France rapidly narrowed down to the 
limits attained by Henry II. 

At home, meanwhile, matters were going badly. The Character of 
little king, a delicate but precocious child, was being care- ^"^^ * 
fully educated, and he showed himself an apt and submis- 
sive pupil. In happier times he might have become a 
good, even a great, sovereign; but the storm and stress of 
civil strife forced upon him responsibilities far beyond his 
strength. He was crowned king of England when only 
seven years of age, and king of France at ten. Again and 
again, while still a mere child, he was called upon to medi- 
ate between the great barons of the council. The death 
of Bedford bereft him of his only wise and disinterested 
minister. The fragile body and overwrought brain of the 



196 



Dynastic Wars 



Green, 

pp. 293, 294. 



boy king broke under the strain. He was still a young 
man when the curse of his house fell upon him and he be- 
came a helpless imbecile. Pitiable was the condition of 

the kingdom. The 
people groaned under 
the burden of taxes 
imposed for the prose- 
cution of the French 
war. The heavy drafts 
required to fill up the 
ranks of the depleted 
army, coupled with 
frequent recurrences 
of the plague, had 
sensibly reduced the 
population. The 
strength of the nation 
was nearly exhausted, 
and yet Parliament was 
unwilling to treat for 
Henry VI peace. Race pride 

After the portrait in the National Portrait Gallery revolted agaiust a hu- 
miliating conclusion 
to the war so brilliantly begun, but the counsellors of the 
king, seeing that failure was inevitable, negotiated a truce. 
A marriage was arranged between the youAg king and a 
French princess, Margaret of Anjou, while Maine and An- 
jou were ceded (1448) as the price of peace. Normandy 
was lost in 1450, and the coast cities, Bordeaux and Ba- 
yonne, in 145 1. The remnant of Guienne thus passed into 
the hands of the French king, and Calais alone remained 
to England. 

Dynastic Difficulties. — With the close of the war, a crowd 
of disappointed knights and ragged soldiers returned from 
over-seas, seeking to better their desperate fortunes. They 
found the country well-nigh ruined, the king impotent, the 
queen generally hated because of the humiliating marriage 




Dynastic Difficulties 



19; 



treaty, and the princes of the blood royal engaged in a Bright, i, 

desperate struggle for the control of the government. Ed- 317-322. 

mund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, head of the illegitimate Green, 

branch of the Lancastrian house, had the confidence of the pp- ^95-298. 
court and the queen, but he was unpopular with the people, 




llilllllllllllllllll!llllllil!llll!lllllllllliillllil|!||||l!if^ 
Suit of Full Armor. Middle of Fifteenth Century 



and was charged with every disaster at home and abroad. 
His rival, Richard of York, had, on the contrary, proved Richard of 
himself an able ruler, both in France and in Ireland. He York, 
was not only heir-apparent to the childless king, but, being 



198 



Dynastic Wars 



Green, 

pp. 294, 295. 



Bright, I, 
322-327. 



Birth of 

Prince 

Edward. 



Traill, II, 
313, 314- 



descended through his mother, Anne Mortimer, from Lionel, 
Duke of Clarence, elder brother to John of Gaunt, he might 
advance a better claim to the throne than the reigning 
house. Distrusted by the queen's party and driven from 
court, his name was caught up by the malcontents as the 
guarantee of efficient government. Jack Cade, who incited 
the fruitless peasant insurrection in 145 1, assumed the name 
of Mortimer. The "Complaint of the Commons of Kent" 
protested against the misgovernment of unworthy favorites, 
and demanded that the king recall to court "that high and 
mighty prince, the Duke of York." The Kentish rising, 
far from inducing the king to summon York to his council, 
only heightened the antagonism between that great lord 
and the court party. 

The Wars of the Roses. ^ — In 1453, Henry fell into a 
state of imbecility which endured, with brief intervals of 
sanity, through the remaining eighteen years of his life. 
The birth of Prince Edward in the same year gave an heir 
to the house of Lancaster. Relying on the support of 
powerful barons, notably the Earl of Warwick, York laid 
claim to the protectorate, and did not hesitate to maintain 
his right by force. Somerset was slain at St. Albans (1455), 
and Queen Margaret was left alone to defend the interests 
of her feeble husband and infant son. The queen was 
justly unpopular, since there was reason to believe that she 
was soliciting aid from France and Scotland against her 
English foes; nevertheless, she could count on the loyalty 
of the north and west. The Yorkist cause, on the other 
hand, was maintained in London and the rich and populous 
southeastern counties, whose commercial and industrial in- 
terests were dependent on efficient government. In 1459, 
the dynastic controversy so long smouldering broke into 
flame. Parliament, acting under the influence of the 
queen, attainted York and his principal supporters. They 
armed in self-defence, and the land was given over to civil 
war. Victory was at first with the Duke of York. At the 

1 The Lancastrians wore the red rose, the Yorkists the white. 



THE WARS 
OF THE ROSES 



SCALE OF ENGLISH MILES 
5 10 20 30 (iO 



EXPLANATION 

England 

Welsh Principalities ^^ 

The Marches — -_^S 




4 West 3 Longitude 2 from 1 Greenwich East 1 



BORMAY & Ca.,ENSR'S,N..Y.i 



200 



Dynastic Wars 



Wakefield, 
J460. 
Traill, II, 
333- 



Towton, 



battle of Northampton (1460) Henry VI was taken prisoner 
and York laid claim to the crown. A compromise was 
effected by the advocates of peace; Richard was to succeed 
Henry VI, the claim of Prince Edward being set aside. 

Queen Margaret, however, rejected the arrangement and 
fought like a lioness for the rights of her son. Richard fell 
at Wakefield, but his heir, young Edward of York, proved 
an even stronger leader. Getting possession of London by 
a swift and unexpected advance, he was proclaimed king 
by the citizens and crowned, before the sanction of Parlia- 
ment was obtained, by a group of partisan lords. The 
bloody battle of Towton Field (146 1) wrecked the hopes 
of the Lancastrians. The leading men of the party were 
slain, and the fierce queen was forced to flee to Scotland, 
carrying with her the husband and son for whom she 
waged this desperate contest. Thus was the work of 
1399 undone, and the act of deposition reversed. The 
coronation of Edward IV was a reassertion of hereditary 
right. 

Warwick, the King-maker. — The cause of the White 
Rose had been stanchly maintained by Richard Neville, 
Earl of Warwick, near kinsman to the house of York, and 
the most powerful lord in England. He held great estates 
in the midland counties and could gather an army of trusty 
vassals under his banner, the ragged staff. He was further 
so connected by blood and marriage with oth^r great fami- 
lies that he could count on the support of the major part 
of the English nobility. It was said that half England 
would rise at his word. An able politician, a man of 
genial manners and wide sympathies, he won the steadfast 
confidence of the people. "He ever had the good voice 
of the people," says the chronicler, "because he gave them 
fair words, showing himself easy and familiar." He, far 
more than the Duke of York, fought in the interest of good 
government, and the victory of the White Rose was due in 
great part to the confidence he inspired. After the crown 
was won and Edward IV established at Westminster, War- 



Edward IV 201 

wick was sent to guard the north country against the raids 
undertaken by Margaret and the Scots. It was no easy 
task; the indomitable queen stirred the discontent of 
Northumberland to revolt, and rising after rising was at- 
tempted, taxing the skill of Warwick to the utmost. 

Edward IV (146 1 -1 483). — Meanwhile King Edward at Bright, I, 
London was pursuing his own pleasure as gayly as if his 328-340. 
tenure of the throne was unchallenged. In 1464 he mar- Green, 
ried Lady Grey, rejecting the high-born brides proposed PP- 298-300. 
by Warwick, and proceeded to bestow titles and offices 
upon her numerous relatives, the Woodvilles, with slight 
regard to the advice of his former counsellors. This in- 
difference gave umbrage to his supporters. The great 
lords who had fought his battles expected some reward. 
The people found the requisitions of the spendthrift king 
excessive, and murmured that Lancastrian feebleness "was 
no worse than the reckless misrule of a York." The re- 
bellious commons of Yorkshire, led by Robin of Redesdale, Traill, II, 
protested against burdensome taxation, the alienation of 3i5- 
the royal estates to upstart favorites, and the exclusion from 
the king's council of the princes of the blood. Warwick Alliance of 
began to repent him of his work and to plot with Margaret Warwick 
for the restoration of Henry. It required but the weight Margaret. 
of his influence on the Lancastrian side to turn the tables. 
A sharp reversal of fortune drove the over-confident Edward 
beyond seas and placed Henry VI on the throne. For five 
months the frail old man held the sceptre in his feeble 
grasp. He was but a shadow king; the real sovereign was 
the great Earl of Warwick. In the spring of 147 1, Edward 
returned to England, protesting that he had come in all 
loyalty to King Henry, to recover but his ancestral estates. 
Encountering no resistance from the apathetic people, he 
gathered courage and claimed the throne. His brilliant 
generalship stood him in good stead. In the battle of 
Barnet, April 14, Warwick was slain. At Tewkesbury, Barnet, 
May 4, Prince Edward, the hope of the Lancastrians, Tewkesbury, 
fell. Margaret was taken prisoner, and the frail old king, 



202 Dynastic Wars 

consigned to the Tower, died on the night of Edward's 
triumphant return to London. 

Political Results. — The house of Lancaster was finally 
ruined. Twenty years of civil strife had resulted in the 
triumph of the rival dynasty. It was not a constitutional 
struggle, like that led by Simon de Montfort, by Thomas 
Traill, II, of Lancaster, by the Lords Appellant. Henry IV and his 
309-311. successors had been most scrupulously observant of every 

parliamentary form. They had neither attempted arbitrary 
rule nor sought to enrich themselves and their favorites at 
the expense of the common weal. Their failure was in 
"want of governance." The dynasty had not struck deep 
root in the loyalty of the nation, because it had furnished 
no able administrator. In the anarchy of the times Eng- 
land needed above all things a strong and efficient govern- 
ment which should protect the weak and restore order to 
the disorganized State. 
Green, The house of York did not meet this need. The govern- 

pp. 304-306. ment of Edward IV was arbitrary rather than strong. Since 
John, no king had sat on the English throne so abandoned 
to vicious pleasure, so lacking in the sense of responsibility 
for his people. Edward had a conspicuous talent for ex- 
tortion, and money was wrung from his helpless subjects 
by new and ingenious devices. Heavy fines were imposed 
for fictitious offences, and "benevolences" were demanded 
on such terms as made this form of contribution to the 
king's necessities even more vexatious than the forced loans 
of Richard II. No class escaped the royal exactions. 
"The rich," says a contemporary, "were hanged by the 
purse and the poor by the neck." Parliament was sum- 
moned at rare intervals, and its principal business was the 
voting of forfeitures and bills of attainder against the Lan- 
castrian lords. No reform legislation was attempted. 

Richard III (1483-1485). — Edward's sudden death (1483) 

left the succession ill defended. His son. Prince Edward, 

Bright, I, was but thirteen years of age. The young king's uncle, 

341-349- Richard, Duke of Gloucester, deformed of body, brilliant 




Richard III 

After a Painting in Windsor Castle 



State of the Country 203 

of intellect, and of all the house of York most cruel and 

selfish, the man to whom tradition attributes the worst crimes 

of this brutal age, had enjoyed the full trust of the late king. 

No sooner was Edward dead than Richard began to con- Green, 

spire for the throne. The Woodvilles were driven from PP* 3^^- 312. 

court, some into exile, some to the block, and Gloucester 

was elected protector of the realm. The wily duke took 

the oath of allegiance to his young nephew, but before 

Edward could be crowned, his right was set aside and 

Richard was invited by a partisan gathering of lords and 

clergy, acting in the name of the three estates, to assume 

the crown. The boy king and his little brother were Murder of 

murdered in the Tower. the princes. 

Richard III was a man of sinister genius — the least Traill, 1 1, 
scrupulous of his unscrupulous race. The single Parliament 318-320. 
of his reign passed a series of remedial statutes, and these 
have been cited as evidence that the last York was maligned Horace Wal- 
by his successors — that the real man might have become a pole, //w^^r?^ 
great sovereign. Since, however, the king did not hesitate 
to set at naught the most important of these statutes, — that 
declaring benevolences illegal, — he can hardly be regarded 
as the author of the reform movement. The two years of 
his reign were spent in the vain endeavor to defeat a rival 
to the succession, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, the Green, 
last surviving heir of the house of Lancaster. At the PP- 313. 314- 
decisive battle of Bosworth Field (1485), Richard was slain, Bosworth, 
and Henry was proclaimed king. ^485- 

State of the Country. — The misery of the people during Traill, ii, 
these years of civil strife was such as England had not 3ii. 312. 
known since the evil days of Stephen. The land was laid 
waste by rival armies in pursuit of plunder or revenge. 
Crops were destroyed and cattle driven off, the very huts of 
the peasants were torn down and their owners left to naked 
beggary. Villages and towns were sacked and burned to 
the ground, and prosperous districts were reduced to smok- 
ing ruins. More men died of want than were slain in 
battle, and in many parts of the country the fields lay un- 



204 Dynastic Wars 

tilled. The price of wheat fluctuated with every harvest, 
but again and again during the century it rose to famine 
rates. Pestilence followed close upon famine. The chroni- 
clers record some twenty outbreaks of " the Death," with 
hardly a space of five years free. Not only was the growth 
of population checked, but the number of souls actually 
fell below what it was in the thirteenth century. Suffering 
and the failure of accustomed restraints demoralized the 
nation. Loyalty, honor, all sense of obligation, weakened 
in this age of social disintegration. Treachery, breach of 
faith, barbarous cruelty, characterized the party leaders. 
Their followers, not slow to imitate the evil example, robbed 
and murdered in their turn. 

The Privileged Orders. — The Church had well-nigh lost 
its influence for good. Their privfleges, once rendered 
secure by the suppression of the Lollards, the clergy felt 
httle concern for the well-being of the people. Many prel- 
ates, younger sons of baronial families, took an active part 
in the civil strife, and proved themselves only a shade less 
faithless than their non tonsured alhes. For example, 
George Neville, Archbishop of York, betrayed London to 
King Edward (147 1) as the price of his personal safety. 
Traill, II, -j^^i^g aristocracy was decimated in the course of the 

dynastic struggle.^ Many old houses were extinguished, 
all the men of the family having fallen in battle. Many 
more were impoverished. The wasteful expenses entailed 
in one hundred and twenty years of public and private war, 
and the cost of maintaining the splendid establishments re- 
quired by the fashion of the times, were a heavy charge, 
while the returns from landed property were diminishing. 
Wealth and influence were centred in a few great families. 
There were half a dozen peers whose power rivalled that of 
royalty itself. The Earl of Warwick boasted so large a fol- 
lowing that six oxen were daily slaughtered to provide his 

1 The loss of life was heaviest among the nobility. At the battle of North- 
ampton, Warwick gave orders that none should slay the commoners, but only 
the lords, with whom lay the responsibility for the war. 



329-332. 



The Baronage 



205 



breakfast table. The Duke of Buckingham's rental was es- 
timated at one hundred and eighty thousand pounds in 
money of to-day, while in his great hall of Thornbury two 
hundred guests partook of his bounty. The Earl of Berke- 
ley was accompanied on his journeys by a retinue of one 
hundred and fifty retainers dressed in his livery. A baron's Traill. II, 
strength was measured by the number of followers he could 329-334- 




Raglan Castle 

From a photograph 



maintain. Such attendants were fed and clothed, armed 
and mounted, by their lord, and were entitled to a share in 
the booty of war. In return for such " livery," ^ the man 
bound himself to espouse his lord's quarrels, to answer his 
summons, and to follow him to battle, at home or abroad. 
It was just such a relation of mutual service and protection 
as existed between the Saxon earl and his thegn. There 

1 Livery {liberatio) was originally the allowance in clothing and food 
provided for each retainer. 



2o6 Dynastic Wars 

was, in fact, in the disorganized state of society, a reversion 
to feudalism. Backed by their armed retainers, powerful 
nobles made war upon each other in pursuit of personal 
ends. Fierce feuds and private broils were of frequent oc- 
currence. 

There was no authority strong enough to cope with the 
turbulent gentry. Kings were but their creatures, and 
the courts of justice could not withstand their influence. 
A powerful noble had only to appear before the justice with 
several thousand henchmen at his back to secure the rever- 
sal of an unpalatable sentence. From Edward III to Henry 
VII this was a growing evil. No less than twelve statutes 
were enacted against the giving of liveries and the mainte- 
nance^ of false quarrels; but legislation could effect nothing 
when there was no strong central authority to put the law 
into execution. In the ignoble strife for possession of the 
crown, the royal authority was discredited. The institutions 
of government, local as well as central, were demoralized, 
and the kingdom lapsed into anarchy. Parliament, for- 
merly the stanch defender of the people's Hberties, had 
degenerated into the servile tool of dynastic faction. By 
neglecting to summon the hostile lords" and by skilfully 
manipulating county elections, the party in power could at 
any time convene an assembly that would ratify its measures 
of attainder and restitution. 

The People. — Bad as were the political 4nd social con- 
ditions of the age, there was still room for considerable 
industrial progress. The citizens of the towns and the lesser 
folk of the country had little to do with the civil wars. Yeo- 
men and all below the rank of squire were forbidden by law 
to don a livery or to follow a lord to battle, while participa- 

Green, tion in the county elections was limited to persons possessed 

PP- 2 5, 2 . ^£ j^^^ worth forty shillings a year.^ 

1 Maintenance was the support given by lord to client whether in a pri- 
vate quarrel or in the courts of justice. 

2 But twenty-nine barons were summoned to the first Parliament of 
Henry VII. 

3 This statute was enacted in 1430 in consequence of tumults made in the 



The People 



207 



The process of commuting personal for money service was 
virtually accomplished in the course of the fifteenth century, 
and the major part of the former serfs became copyhold ten- 
ants. The demesne lands were rented on easy terms by ne- 
cessitous lords to thrifty yeomen who knew how to lay up 
money in spite of the turbulent times. Such a man is de- 
scribed in Latimer's sermon before Edward VI. " My father Traill, 11, 
was a yeoman and had no lands of his own, only he had a 39i. 392. 
farm of three or four hundred pounds (rent) by year at the 
uttermost, and hereupon he tilled so much as kept half a 
dozen men. He had walk for a hundred sheep, and my 
mother milked thirty kine. ... He kept me to school, or 
else I had not been able to preach before the king's majesty 
now. He married my sisters with five pounds apiece. . . . 
He kept hospitality for his poor neighbors and some alms 
he gave to the poor, and all this he did of the same farm." 
Such a man, too, was Clement Paston, the founder of a great The Paston 
Norfolk family. Letters. 

The fifteenth century has been called " the golden age of Traill, 11, 
English labor," and it is true that the period is marked by a 381-385. 394- 
steady rise of wages ; but prices rose no less steadily, and ^^ " 
the irregularity of employment reduced the earning power 
of the workman to the cost of mere subsistence. The re- 
enacted statute of laborers empowered justices of the peace 
to fix the rate of wages and forbade the laborers to move 
about in search of better pay. Lamenting the degraded lot 
of the farm servants. Sir Thomas More says : " The state 
and condition of the laboring beasts may seem much better 
and wealthier; for they be not put to so continual labor, 
nor their living is not much worse, yea to them much pleas- 
anter, taking no thought in the mean season for the time to 
come. But these seely poor wretches be presently tor- 
mented with barren and unfruitful labor, and the remem- 

county courts. " By great attendance of people of small substance and no 
value, whereof every one of them pretendeth a voice equivalent as to such 
elections, with the most worthy knights and squires resident." — Preamble 
TO Statute. 



208 



Dynastic Wars 



brance of their poor, indigent, and beggarly old age killeth 
them up. For their daily wages is so little that it will not 
suffice for the same day, much less it yieldeth any surplus 
that may daily be laid up for the relief of old age." The 
food and shelter that might be procured with these meagre 
earnings was so poor and unwholesome that the laboring 




The George Inn, Glastonbury 

After a painting by G. Arnald 



Traill, II, 
407-412. 



classes fell an easy prey to the Pestilence. Leprosy, typhoid, 
and other filth diseases ran riot. 

The citizens of the towns were far more prosperous. It 
was the policy of the burgesses to shirk all responsibility for 
the dynastic strife. Neither White Rose nor Red was worth 
the cost of a siege, and the city gates flew open to the first 



Intellectual Decadence 2O9 

comer. The wars, foreign and domestic, were a serious in- 
terference to commerce. Pirates infested the seas, and the 
ports were not infrequently burned by French fleets that 
scoured the coasts. The victory of York, however, aftbrded 
a respite during which trade revived. Edward IV, who 
earned the tide of " Merchant Prince " by his successful 
ventures, did much to restore prosperity. A series of com- Traill, 1 1, 
mercial treaties with continental powers opened new avenues 404. 
of trade to Enghsh merchants, while a strong and efficient 
navy cleared the Channel of pirates. A famous merchant 
of the day was Sir Richard Whittington, who amassed a for- 
tune in foreign trade, built hospitals and colleges, loaned 
money to the king, and four times fulfilled the prophecy 
rung in his boyish ears by London's bells — " Turn again, 
Whittington, Lord Mayor of London." 

Intellectual Decadence. — The fifteenth century produced 
no statesmen and no poets. It was a brutal age, in which 
the ideals that had redeemed mediaeval society — patriotism, 
rehgion, chivalry — languished, overborne by selfish material- 
ism. The literary impulse of the fourteenth century was Green, 
prematurely checked. The ill-fated Henry VI founded the PP- 306-310. 
grammar school of Eton and built King's College Chapel, 
Caxton set up his printing-press at Westminster, in the 
reign of Edward IV ; but with such rare exceptions, the age 
seems intellectually dead. There was a dearth of poetry Traill, ll, 
and romance. Even the chroniclers give evidence of the 376-380. 
general mental apathy. Their meagre records rival the 
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in dulness. Yet, though the times 
admitted of no individual eminence in culture or in art, the 
people at large had their heart-stirring ballads, their quaint 
religious dramas, played in the city streets on holy days, Traill, li, 
and craftsmen wrought new beauty into church and gild- hall 360-366, 386, 
and market-cross. 3 7- 




V. ;.rj~.<\^. 



Interior of Kings College Chapel, Cambridge 

Atkinson and Clark, Cambridge Described and Illustrated 



Important Events 2\i 

Important Events 
Reign of Henry IV, 1399-1413. 

Statute for the burning of heretics, 1401. 
Revolt of the Welsh, 1400-1415. 
Revolt of Northumberland, 1403-1408. 

Reign of Henry V, 141 3-1 422 

Lollard rising, 1414. 
French wars, 141 5-1422. 

Battle of Agincourt, 1415. 

Treaty of Troyes, 1420. 

Reign of Henry VI, 1422-1461 (dethroned)-i47i (died). 

French wars, 1422-1453. 

Siege of Orleans, 1429. 
~ Surrender of Maine and Anjou, 1445. 

Final loss of French provinces, 1453. 
Cade's insurrection, 145 1. 
Civil War. 

Battle of St. Albans, 1455. 

Battle of Towton, 1461. 

Battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury. 1471. 

Reign of Richard III, 1483-1485. 
Battle of Bosworth Field, 1485. 



212 



Dynastic Wars 



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CHAPTER VIII 

THE TUDORS AND THE REFORMATION 

Books for Consultation 

Sources 
Polydore Vergil. 
Memorials of Henry VII. 

Calendar of State Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of Henry VII L 
Jotir?ial of King Ed%vard''s I'eign. 

'D^Y^Nes, Journals of the Parliaments of Queen Elizabeth. 
Parliamentary Records. 
Statutes of the Realm, 
Chronicle of Henry VIII of England. 
Prothero, Select Statutes and Other Documents. 
University of Pennsylvania, Translations, etc., Vol. I., No. I 
Holinshed, Chronicles. 
Cavendish, Cardinal Wolsey. 
Roper, life of Sir Thomas More. 
Ireland under Elizabeth and James. 

Special Authorities 

Lingard, History of England. 

Hallain, Constitutional History of England. 

Seeley, Growth of British Policy. 

Bacon, life of Henry VII. 

Gaiirdnev, Henry VII. 

Busch, England under the Tudors, Vol. I. 

Brewer, Reign of Henry VIII. 

Creighton, Cardinal Wolsey. 

Seebohm, Oxford Reformers. 

Creighton, Age of Elizabeth. 

Beesly, Queen Elizabeth. 

Hume, The Great lord Burleigh. 

Burton, History of Scotland. 

McCrie, Life of Knox. 

Hutton, Sir Thomas More. 

213 



214 T^^^ Titdors and the Reforniatiou 

Imaginative Literature 

Scott, Mar mi on. 

Shakespeare, Henry VIII. 

Scott, Keniltvorth, The Monastery, The Abbot. 

Lawless, With Essex in Ireland. 

Tennyson, Queen Mary. 

The Age of Transition. — The sixteenth century marks 
the change from mediseval to modern society. It was a 
time of transition; old landmarks were passing away, to be 
replaced by a new world with different ideals, organized on 
a different basis. The temper of the times was favorable 
to experiments, eager for reforms. The old conception of 
Christendom as a great commonwealth ruled by pope and 
emperor disappeared with the fifteenth century, and for the 
next hundred years the fortunes of Europe were in the hand 
of two strong centralized states, — France and Spain. The 
sixteenth century saw the break-up of ecclesiastical unity 
with the revolt of half the Christian world against the 
spiritual dominion of the Pope. Outside the realm of 
politics and religion, even vaster changes were taking 
place. To the material world of the fifteenth century a 
whole continent had been added, and the Atlantic, formerly 
a boundary, was now the highway between the Old World 
and the New. The deadened intelligence of Europe was 
stirred by the wonders suddenly revealed, the chains of 
mediaeval thought were thrown off, and the intellectual life 
of the age thrilled in response to the new vigor of the world 
of action. England could not remain unaffected by the 
changes that were taking place. She had her Renaissance 
(p. 282), her Reformation; and her future was linked more 
closely perhaps than any other to the newly discovered 
world beyond the seas. 

Henry VII (i 485-1 509). — Henry VII, first of the Tudor 

line, came to the throne well fitted for the task before him. 

Traill, II, His youth had been spent in prison or in exile, and disci- 

441-452. pline had taught him self-control and moderation. To 

stern resolution he united great patience and the tact that 



Henry VII 



215 



marked the greatest of his house. His tastes were literary 
and artistic, and the learned men of his time were his 
friends. 




Henry VII 

From an original picture in the National Portrait Gallery 



Henry had little chance to indulge the gentler sides of 
his character, for his reign was one continuous struggle to 
make secure the throne which treachery had given him. 



2l6 



The Tndors and the Reformation 



Green, 

pp. 313, 314. 

Traill, II. 
492. 



Traill, II, 
452-463. 



Bright, II, 
358-362. 



Lambert 
Simnel. 



On Bosworth Field Lord Stanley placed the crown of Eng- 
land on Henry's head, but it took twenty years of ceaseless 
effort to make good the title. As the last representative 
of the Lancastrians he had been accepted by the Red Rose 
faction, but he was not of the direct line, and doubt had 
been cast on the legitimacy of his branch. The Yorkists, 
who had helped him overthrow Richard, had been won to 
his support only by his promise to wed the Princess Eliza- 
beth, and no sooner had they placed a Tudor on the throne 
than they began to intrigue against him. It was to make 
good the defects of his hereditary claims that Henry caused 
Parliament to pass an act vesting in him and his heirs the 
right to the crown of England. The royal revenues were 
utilized to maintain a considerable body-guard and to 
provide the king's army with cannon and ammunition. 
Henry VII possessed the only artillery within the four 
seas, and thus held an enormous advantage over his op- 
ponents. 

The king's chief security, however, lay in the lack of a 
powerful rival and in the political exhaustion of the coun- 
try. The nobility, diminished in wealth and prestige and 
divided among themselves, were not strong enough to be 
formidable alone; the Church, alarmed by attacks upon its 
doctrine and its property, clung to the throne for support, 
while the people, weary of bloodshed and anarchy, turned 
from war to trade and commerce and were ready to give 
their allegiance to any ruler who would establish order and 
maintain peace. 

Yorkist Risings. — During the first fifteen years of 
Henry's reign, several attempts were made by the Yorkist 
party to overthrow him. Two of these plots were espe- 
cially significant of the lawless and reckless conditions that 
had so long prevailed. 

In 1487 a youth presented himself in Ireland as Edward, 
Earl of Warwick. In reality, the fellow's name was Lam- 
bert Simnel. He was the son of an Oxford baker and had 
been trained for his part by a Yorkist priest. The real 



Henry's Home Policy 21^ 

Prince Edward was a prisoner in the Tower, but the im- 
postor was eagerly accepted by the Irish and crowned king 
in Dublin Cathedral. Moreover, he received the support 
of the Yorkist leaders, including Margaret, Duchess of 
Burgundy and sister of Edward IV. With a force of Irish 
and Germans, Simnel invaded Lancashire, but the people 
did not rise, and he was easily defeated at the battle of 
Stoke. The baker's son was himself taken prisoner. 
Henry, with contemptuous moderation, spared his life, 
but made him turnspit in the royal kitchen. 

Five years later a similar attempt was made to usurp the 
throne. This time it was a roving trader of Tournay, 
Perkin Warbeck by name, who landed in Cork, and was Perkin 
believed by the discontented and impressionable Irish to Warbeck. 
be Richard, the younger of the two princes, popularly sup- 
posed to have been murdered in the Tower by Richard III. 
Warbeck' s claims were made formidable by the support 
which he received not merely from the heads of the Yorkist 
party but from foreign rulers hostile to Henry. Margaret 
of Burgundy kept him for two and a half years at her court, 
perfecting him in his part. James IV of Scotland recog- 
nized his claims, and Flanders and France gave him aid. 
But, as before, England refused to rise, and an attempt to 
invade Cornwall (1497) ended in Warbeck' s capture and 
imprisonment. 

Henry's Home Policy. — The easy suppression of the Bright, II, 
Yorkist risings was largely the result of Henry's wise policy. 355-35 • 
In many ways his reign may be looked upon as a continua- 
tion of that of Edward IV. The first Tudor, like the last 
York, strove to establish firm government, and to make 
himself independent of Parliament. To secure his realm 
from attack from abroad was the object that controlled his 
foreign relations. The methods of the two rulers were 
also similar; both bore heavily upon the nobility and sought 
the favor of the industrial classes, and both strove to gain 
their ends by diplomacy rather than by war. 

In severe measures toward the nobility Henry was sure 



2l8 



The TiLdors and the Reformation 



Court of 
the Star 
Chamber. 



of popular support. Order was what the country most 
needed, and in the way of restoration of order stood the 
barons, with the traditions and habits formed by a genera- 
tion of civil war. Henry began at once to reduce their 
power. The statutes of Maintenance and Livery were 
rigorously enforced, and every violation of the laws was 
punished with crushing fines. To remedy the weakness of 
the ordinary courts in dealing with great offenders, Henry 
established in 1487 a new tribunal, that could neither be 
bribed nor bullied. The Court of the Star Chamber, as 
the new court was called, was made up of certain members 
of the Privy Council and two judges, and was the first of 
the great councils through which Henry and his successors 
governed the kingdom. Henry also diminished the politi- 
cal power of the nobles by placing the administration largely 
in the hands of churchmen or of men whom he himself had 
raised to eminence. 

While thus weakening the power of the barons, Henry 
strove to gain the support of the lower classes by en- 
couraging trade and commerce. He was quick to see 
the advantage to himself and to the country in the 
presence of powerful industrial interests, which would 
balance the influence of the noble class and would in- 
crease the national wealth. He therefore fostered the re- 
sources of the kingdom and strove to remedy any causes 
for decline. 

Financial Measures. — Henry realized that the weakness 
of the crown in the fifteenth century was due in great meas- 
ure to the poverty of the treasury, and throughout his reign 
he strove to make good the lack. As representative of the 
united Lancastrian and Yorkist lines he inherited the pos- 
sessions of both. He was careful, almost parsimonious, in 
his expenditures. The few wars in which he engaged were 
made to pay for themselves. Of the war with France, Lord 
Bacon declared that Henry only "trai^cked with that war," 
and made a double profit, "upon his subjects for the war, 
and upon his enemies for the peace." Henry, in fact, wrung 



Financial Measures 



219 



a benevolence from the people by declaring war, and then 
forced the French king to pay him a large sum for with- 
drawing from it. Every rising, too, helped to fill the royal 
treasury. Henry had little of that thirst for blood so 
marked in his son, and he was ready to condone even 
treason for money. An important source of the royal 




The Chanel of Henry VII, Westminster 

Villars, England 



revenue was the judicial fines which were imposed for in- 
fractions of the law. In the latter part of Henry's reign, 
two of his ministers, Empson and Dudley, made themselves 
detested by their extortions in such matters. Taxation, Traill, 1 1, 
regular and irregular, steadily increased. Henry contrived 45o- 
to raise large sums of money in unusual ways, through 
feudal dues, loans, and benevolences. It was on the occa- 



220 TJie Tiidors and tJie Reformation 

sion of raising the benevolence of 1491 that the instructions 
to the commissioners contained the famous article called 
Morton's Fork. According to Lord Bacon, Cardinal Mor- 
ton, the king's chief minister, directed the commissioners 
" that if they met any that were sparing, they should tell 
them that they must needs have, because they laid up; and 
if they were spenders they must needs have, because it was 
seen in their port and manner of living, so neither kind 
came amiss." 

As a result of careful management Henry was able to 
dispense with Parliament during the last years of his reign, 
and yet to leave behind him a treasure of nearly ^1,800,000, 
probably equal to eighteen millions to-day. 
Bright, II, The Foreign Policy. — Henry's dealings with foreign 

363. 364- powers were characteristic not merely of his preference for 

peaceful methods, but also of the tendency of the time to 
Traill, II substitute diplomacy for war. He was active in continental 
448, 449. affairs, constantly on the brink of war, and yet never seri- 

ously fighting. The truth was, he did not feel himself 
sufficiently secure on his throne to risk a war. 

To secure England against attack, and to strengthen his 
position abroad, Henry built up a system of alliances. He 
continued the traditional policy of friendly relations with 
Spain by marrying his son and heir, Arthur, to Catherine 
of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. 
To secure the northern border against the Scots, he married 
his eldest daughter, Margaret, to James IV of Scotland. 
With Burgundy he established closer commercial relations. 
By this threefold alliance, as the king himself boasted, 
England was surrounded with a wall of brass. 

Henry VIII (1509-1547). — In 1509 the old king died. 
His work had been crowned with success. The spirit 
of opposition was thoroughly cowed by his stern though 
not merciless measures. Constitutional aspirations were 
checked, few Parliaments were called, and the personal 
rule of the sovereign had replaced the old limited mon- 
archy. As a result of his wise and cautious policy, Henry 




Henry VIII 

The face is engraved after the only sketch made from Hfe by Holbein (Pinako- 
theke, Munich), the body from Holbein's painting in Windsor 



222 



The Tttdors and the Reformation 



New Eng- 
land Maga- 
zine, March, 
1894, Article 
on Holbein. 



Green, 

pp. 332-334- 
Creighton, 
Cardinal 
Wolsey, 
pp. 18-23. 



left to his son a secure throne, a full treasury, and a pros- 
perous people.^ 

The young king came to the throne with none of the 
disadvantages against which his father had contended. 
He was in the prime of manhood, good-humored, frank, 
fond of popularity. The darker sides of his character were 
as yet unrevealed, and he was greeted with delight by the 
nation, weary of the suspicious, repressive policy of the 
preceding reign. 

Wolsey. — Although from the first Henry's vigorous, mas- 
terful personality dominated his surroundings, yet during 
the early part of his reign the shaping of England's home 
and foreign policy was mainly in the hands of his great 
minister, Thomas Wolsey. The son of an Ipswich burgher, 
Wolsey was trained for the Church and held a royal chap- 
laincy in the reign of the first Tudor. Under Henry VUI 
he rose rapidly in office, until finally, in 15 15, he was made 
chancellor, receiving in the same year the cardinal's hat. 
His great abilities, his industry, and his devotion to the 
royal interest made him indispensable to Henry, who heaped 
upon him office and honor and intrusted him for fourteen 
years with the highest authority in Church and State. 

Wolsey's aim was to make the king absolute in England, 
and England the first state in Europe. He felt that the 
royal power was the only means of holding the country 
together, and he believed that the time had come for Eng- 
land to take part in continental affairs if she would main- 

1 Henry VII, m. Elizabeth of York 



Arthur, 
d. 1502 

I. James IV, m. Margaret, m. 2. Lord Henry Henry VIII Mary, m. i. Louis XII 
I I Angus m. 2. Duke of 

j I I Suffolk 

James V,m. Mary of Margaret 1 

I Guise I I 

Mary, m. Darnley 

James VI of Scotland 

and 

James I of England 



Frances 



Lady Jane Grey, m. Guildford 
Dudley 



Poreign Relations 



223 



tain her place among nations. Peace was his policy, how- 
ever, and diplomacy his weapon. England was to make • 
her influence felt not through conquest, but by holding the Creighton, 
balance of power between the rival states of France and ^"^^^"^^'^ 
Spain, now contending for mastery in Europe. pp_ 3!^'^ 

Foreign Relations. — During the first part of the sixteenth Bright, il, 
century the destinies of Europe were in the hands of three 377-381. 
young rulers. Six years after Henry's accession, Francis I 
ascended the French throne, and in 15 19 Charles V, at the 
age of nineteen, found himself Emperor of Germany and 




The Field of the Cloth of Gold 

From the famous painting in Hampton Court Palace 

ruler of Spain, the Netherlands, and the Italian provinces. 
The maintenance of the balance of power was the control- 
ling interest in international relations. Charles and Francis 
were rivals on the continent, and both sought to secure the 
aid of England. In 1520 Francis and Henry met near 
Calais, and the gorgeous display on both sides give to the 
meeting the name of the Field of the Cloth of Gold. The 
underlying object of the French king was to secure Henry's 
alliance, but Charles had been beforehand, and had already 
come to an understanding with the English king. 



224 



The Tiidors and the Reformation 



Creighton, 
Cardinal 
Wolsey, 
pp. 8i, 82. 



Flodden, 
1513- 



Green, 

pp. 337-339- 



Wolsey's purpose, however, was to make England media- 
tor of Europe, and not an ally of either France or Spain. 
In the main his support was given to France as the weaker 
party, but the interests of trade, the marriage alliance, and 
the traditional hostility between the English and French 
tended to draw England to the emperor's side. Wolsey was 
a master of diplomacy, and as a result of his efforts England 
regained that influence on the continent which she had lost 
during the civil wars, and became for a time the arbiter of 
Europe. 

Henry was eager to play a more active part in foreign 
affairs. In 15 12 and 15 13, and again in 1523, England sent 
expeditions into France, but as a rule there was much nego- 
tiation and intrigue and little fighting. The only general 
engagement of the period was fought on the Scottish 
border. At the battle of Flodden (15 13), the Scots, as 
usual alHed with France, were completely defeated by the 
English and lost their king. In 1526, Wolsey's triumph 
seemed complete, and there was nothing to indicate that 
the crisis of the reign, bringing with it his downfall, was 
impending. 

The Royal Divorce. — Soon after his accession Henry, hav- 
ing obtained the necessary papal dispensation, had married 
Catherine of Aragon, the widow of his brother Arthur. For 
many years they had lived together, and she had borne him 
several children, of whom, however, only one, the Princess 
Mary, survived. At length the king's scruples were awakened 
as to the validity of his marriage. He began to doubt the 
Pope's power to grant a dispensation, and he saw in the 
death of his children a punishment for having violated 
the ecclesiastical law. Moreover, he realized the danger to 
the peace of the country in the lack of a male heir. Although 
not excluded by law, no woman had ever reigned in England, 
and the evil that might result from a disputed succession had 
been proved by a generation of civil war. Henry was skil- 
ful in finding conscientious reasons for gratifying his selfish 
desires, but it is probable that the bright eyes and merry wit 



The Royal Divorce 



225 



of Anne Boleyn, one of Catherine's ladies-in-waiting, helped Anne 
to arouse him to the sinfulness of his condition. ° ^^"' 

Catherine spurned the suggestion that she should quietly 
submit to being set aside, and Henry, by the advice of 
Wolsey, appealed to the Pope for a divorce. At first the 
cardinal had opposed Henry's scheme of separation, but 
finding his remonstrances fruitless, he gave way, hoping to 




/5S 



/^iJhidFs.osx'ECT cf Christ Cburcb 



/^ M^E STIES tJid^idA77^fferi£ral/^C€ 



Christ Church College, Oxford 



turn the matter to good account in foreign politics, by mar- 
rying Henry to a French princess. The appeal to the Pope 
was unsuccessful. Clement was not free to act, for he was 
practically in the power of the emperor, who was Catherine's 
nephew and had ardently espoused her cause. A. positive 
answer was delayed, but it was plain that the Pope dared 
not annul a marriage sanctioned by one of his predecessors. 
Q 



226 



The Tudors and the Reformation 



Creighton, 
Cardinal 
Wolsey, 
pp. 102-106, 
110-115. 
Bright, II, 
386-388. 



Green, 

PP- 334-336, 

339. 34°- 



Creighton, 
Cardinal 
Wolsey, 
ch. XI. 



Creighton, 
Age of 
Elizabeth , 
pp. 1-4. 



Fall of Wolsey. — The king's disappointment at the check 
to his union with Anne Boleyn was great, and he consoled 
himself by disgracing Wolsey, on whom, most unreasonably, 
the blame of defeat was thrown. With untiring zeal the car- 
dinal had labored in the interests of the king, but no memory 
of past services could put a curb on Henry's selfishness. 
The great minister was friendless. The nobles were jealous 
of his power, and he was feared and hated by the people. 
The methods of the government had been arbitrary. Only 
once (1523) had Parliament been convened during the period 
of Wolsey's administration. Henry's warlike ambition and 
personal extravagance placed heavy burdens on the people, 
and the chancellor had borne the brunt of every unpopular 
measure. In 1525, for example, an attempt was made to 
meet the king's need of money by asking the nation for what 
was called an Amicable Loan. The plan had to be given 
up because of popular opposition, and Wolsey took the 
odium of the proposal upon himself. " Because every man 
layeth the burden from him, I am content to take it on me, 
and to endure the noise and fame of the people, for my good 
will towards the king . . . but the Eternal God knoweth all." 
Wolsey had made the king absolute at home, and had raised 
England from a third-rate power to the rank of a great state. 
Now he was no longer needed, and his ungrateful master 
removed him from office (1529). 

The Protestant Reformation. — The divorce question had 
consequences even more momentous than the overthrow of 
Wolsey, for it opened the way to separation from Rome and 
to reform in the Church. On the continent the fierce pas- 
sions of religious revolution were stirring. Men had long 
been ready for revolt against the misused authority of a 
corrupt and secularized Papacy, and the attack made by 
Martin Luther on the practices and teachings of the Church 
found quick response. When the Saxon friar nailed the 
ninety-five theses against indulgences to the door of the 
church at Wittenberg (1517), he gave the signal for a 
movement that was to convulse Christendom. 



The Protestant Reformation 



227 



To all appearances the Church in England was never so Bright, 11, 
strong as at the accession of Henry VIII. It had enjoyed ^^"^^ 475- 
general immunity from the devastations of the civil war. 
Its wealth was enormous, — one-third the land of the king- 
dom is said to have been under its control. It possessed 
its own legislative assembly (convocation) and its own courts 
of justice. Ecclesiastics filled the great state offices, and 
were in the majority in the House of Lords. But higher 
and lower clergy alike were corrupt and neglectful of their Traill, II, 
responsibilities. In a sermon preached at St. Paul's Cross, 464-475- 




The Tithe Barn, Glastonbury 

From a photograph 



Latimer declared that the devil was the only bishop in all 
England who attended to his duty. Extortionate fees were 
charged by the priests for their religious offices. Pluralities 
multiplied ; some of the clergy held as many as eight bene- 
fices.^ 

The Church was losing its hold upon the people. Lol- 

1 Wolsey was at once Archbishop of York, Bishop of Winchester and 
of Durham, and Abbot of St. Albans. 



228 



The TiidoTS and the Reformation 



lardry had accustomed men to criticise the clergy. The 
bold, intellectual spirit of the age was impatient of ecclesi- 
astical dogma and ignorance, and the traditional dislike to 
papal interference was strong. The influence of the re- 
ligious agitation on the continent was quickly felt in Eng- 
land. Books and pamphlets from Germany flooded the 







The Abbey Kitchen, Glastonbury 

From a photograph 



countr}'-. Cambridge became a hotbed of heresy. Asso- 
ciations, the most famous of which was called the Christian 
Brethren, were formed for the study and circulation of the 
Bible.i 



i The Scriptures had been translated into English in 1526 by William 
Tyndale, and were rendered accessible through the printing press. 



343. 344- 



Long Parliament of the Reformation 229 

It was plain that the seeming strength of the Church 
was a mere shadow, that its power was wholly dependent 
upon royal favor. Henry had shown himself hitherto a 
loyal son of the Church. He gloried in the title of Defender 
of the Faith, and had engaged in a wordy contest with 
Luther ; but his temper was too selfish, his love of popularity 
too great, to afford any security for the future. 

Thomas Cromwell. — The year 1529 marks a turning-point Green, 
in the affairs of Church and State. The master-mind in the PP- 340-342. 
revolutionizing work that followed Wolsey's fall was Thomas 
Cromwell. Although one of the most remarkable of Enghsh 
statesmen, much of Cromwell's character and career remains 
a mystery. He was of humble origin, and had served as a 
trooper in the Italian wars. In 1523 he was an active mem- 
ber of the House of Commons, and a Httle later he entered 
Wolsey's service, remaining the cardinal's faithful friend after 
his overthrow. He was already in middle life when he won 
the king's favor by his audacious advice that Henry should 
divorce Catherine by his own royal decree. In a short time 
he had become the second man in the kingdom. Cromwell's 
purpose, steadily worked out during the years of his power, 
was the concentration of all authority in the hands of the 
king. His methods were bold and ruthless, he inaugurated 
a reign of terror. No individual was too high, no interest 
too powerful, to cause him to stay his hand. Wolsey strove 
to rule without Parliament, but Cromwell made the national 
assembly his tool. During the next ten years, every consti- 
tutional limitation on the royalwill was borne down or made 
meaningless, the Church was humbled, and the government 
became a despotism pure and simple. 

Long Parliament of the Reformation. — The Parliament 
which met in 1529, and which sat for seven years, was the 
instrument through which England was revolutionized. The 
king had turned reformer since the clergy espoused Cathe- 
rine's cause. The House of Commons was packed, but there 
needed no urging to induce the attack upon the Church. 
The beginning once made, advance was rapid. Benefit of 



230 



TJie Tudors and the Reformation 



Green, 

PP- 344-346. 



Act of 
Supremacy, 

1534- 

Bright, II, 
479-484. 



Traill, II, 
466-469, 



clergy was done away, pluralities were abolished, church 
dues, such as burial fees, were. regulated, the jurisdiction of 
ecclesiastical courts was circumscribed, convocation was 
shorn of much of its power, and the choice of bishops was 
made entirely subject to the royal will. 

Hand in hand with these changes in the Church in 
England went measures affecting the connection with Rome. 
Henry readily acknowledged the power of the Pope, so long 
as that power was used to further his will, but he now 
began to doubt the usefulness of an institution that stood 
in his way. Acting on Cromwell's advice, the king had 
caused the divorce question to be brought before an English 
court presided over by Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. 
To stop an appeal from Catherine to the Pope, a statute 
was passed prohibiting appeals to Rome. When Cranmer' s 
court proceeded to pass a decree of divorce-^ it was met by 
a papal decision in favor of Catherine and a bull of ex- 
communication against the king. Henry had already wrung 
from the clergy a limited recognition of his supremacy. 
Parliament now declared the Pope to have no more au- 
thority over the Church of England than any other foreign 
bishop, and by the Act of Supremacy (1534) the king was 
made Supreme Head of the Church of England. 

Attack upon the Monasteries. — The work of revolution 
in the Church did not stop at the break with Rome. 
Cromwell, who was now the king's vicar-general in all 
ecclesiastical matters, determined to strike a blow at the 
monasteries. Their condition had long been a crying 
evil. As early as the reign of Henry IV the House of 
Commons had demanded their suppression. Repeated at- 
tempts at reform had been made. Wolsey, who realized 
the dangerous position of the Church, had tried to meet 
criticism by reform from within, and he had accepted a 
legislative commission from the Pope that he might have 
greater control over the monasteries. But he did little 
more than clearly to reveal the rottenness of the whole 

1 Henry was already secretly married to Anne Boleyn. 



Attack upon the Monasteries 



231 



structure. The age of monasticism was passed, and as a 
rule the religious estabhshments had become mere land- 
owning corporations, chiefly interested in adding to their 
wealth. Cromwell appointed a commission (1535) to in- 
vestigate the conditions of the monastic houses. The " Black 
Book," the commissioners' report to Parliament, was burned 
in the reign of Mary by order of the queen, but the in- 




The Ruined Abbey, Glastonbury 

From a photograph 

formation that remains is sufficient to show that many of 
the smaller monasteries merited the fate that overtook them. 
In 1536, by act of Parhament all monasteries having an 
annual revenue of less than ;£200 were suppressed and 
their property was confiscated by the crown. Three years 
later all other rehgious houses were dissolved. The monas- 
tic buildings were laid desolate or secularized, and it is esti- 
mated that over eighty thousand persons were driven forth 



232 



TJie Tudors and the Reformation 



Green, 

PP- 347. 348, 

359. 360. 



Ten Articles. 



The Bible 
given to the 
people. 



Green, 

PP- 349-354. 



homeless.^ The annual income of the monasteries has been 
estimated at about ^200,000. Part of this wealth was used 
for national purposes, the founding of new bishoprics, and 
the defence of the coasts ; but the greater portion was 
squandered upon the nobles and courtiers about the king. 

Progress in Doctrinal Reform. — ]Meanwhile, changes were 
taking place which were not intended by the government 
when it began the attack upon the Church. Protestantism 
was steadily gaining ground. The triumph of Anne Boleyn 
and her kinsfolk, the Howards, favored the reform party, and 
the xVrchbishop of Canterbury gave it his countenance. 
Moreover, Henry's ecclesiastical policy had resulted in the 
isolation of England, and to meet this danger Cromwell was 
drawing closer to the Protestant princes of North Germany. 
This made it impossible to use harsh measures toward the 
followers of the new doctrines. Popular feehng and political 
considerations combined to hurry the government along. 
In 1530 the Council, by the king's command, had issued a 
declaration against Luther's writings, but in 1536, convoca- 
tion, acting at Henry's bidding, drew up the Ten Articles, 
a statement of doctrine which showed a decided advance 
toward Lutheranism. A complete English translation of the 
Bible had been made by Coverdale, under the auspices of 
the king, and it was ordered (1538) that a copy of this, 
open to all, should be placed in every church. Portions of 
the service, also, were translated into the vernacular. The 
destruction of the monasteries was accompanied by an 
attack upon relics, the object of popular worship. Here 
the religious zeal of the reformer was reenforced by the 
greed of the spoilsman, since some of the shrines were rich 
in gold and jewels.^ 

Attitude of the Nation. — The changes wrought in the 
constitution of the Church created at first but slight stir 



1 For most of the religious a scanty provision is made. 

2 Among the shrines destroyed by the king's order was that of St. 
Thomas of Canterbury. The treasure which had accumulated was taken 
away by cart loads, and the bones of the saint were burned. 



Attitude of the Nation 233 

among the people. Indifference in religious matters was 
general, and there was little loyalty to the Papacy. In 1533 
Anne Boleyn gave birth to a daughter (afterward Queen Birth of 

, ^ ■,. 11, \ 4- ^f Princess 

EHzabeth), and Parhament proceeded to pass an Act ot £^^^^^^11. 
Succession declaring the marriage with Catherine invalid 
and settling the succession upon the children of the second 
marriage.^ At the pleasure of the king any one might be 
required to take an oath to accept this statute, which was 
equivalent to denial of the papal authority. By the Act of 
Supremacy (1534) it was declared high treason to refuse to 
acknowledge the royal supremacy. There was little back- 
wardness in taking the required oaths. Alone among the 
rehgious establishments the monks of the Charter House 
were firm in their loyalty to Rome, and they paid for their 
devotion with their Hves. Two men of European fame 
were executed for refusing to take the oath of the Act of 
Succession. One was Fisher, the venerable Bishop of Execution 

• 1 • --PI, <-u of Fisher 

Rochester, renowned for his learnmg and piety. I tie other ^^^ j^^^^^ 
was Sir Thomas More, the greatest scholar of the age, and 1535. 
beloved of all men. 

Discontent was growing; for although there was much 
indifference to the papal connection, the popular temper 
was conservative and the ancient Church still had a hold 
upon men's hearts if not upon their minds. The excesses 
of some of the reformers gave deep offence, and dissatis- 
faction was increased by the dissolution of the monasteries. 
In the north, especially, where were many of the larger 
houses, the monks had endeared themselves to the poor. 
Moreover, many of the older nobihty were jealous of the 
power wielded by the upstart Cromwell. These various 

1 Henry VIII, m. i. Catherine of Aragon, 1509 

Mary 

m. 2. Anne Boleyn, 1533 

! 

Elizabeth 

m. 3. Jane Seymour, 1536 

I 
Edward VI 

m. 4. Anne of Cleves, 1540 
m. 5. Catherine Howard. 1540 
ni. 6. Catherine Parr, 1543 



234 ^^^^ Tzcdors and the Reformation 

grievances led to a great rising of the north in 1536. The 
first outbreak was at Lincoln, but the movement soon spread 
to Yorkshire, where it found an able leader in Robert Aske, 
Pilgrimage a young London barrister. The Pilgrimage of Grace, as the 
ot Grace, rising was called, included all classes, great churchmen, 
■ nobles, the gentry, and the country people led by the parish 

priests. The demands of the insurgents were for the resto- 
ration of the monasteries, the extirpation of heresy, and the 
overthrow of Cromwell. But the crown was too strong to 
be forced to give way, the rising was ruthlessly repressed, 
and the leaders, including some of the greatest men in the 
Church and among the nobiHty, were put to death. 
Green, The CrowH and Reaction. — Nevertheless, in the main, 

p. 361. Henry was at one with the people on religious questions. 

He would have been content with separation from Rome. 
He had no wish to overthrow the ancient worship, and 
was opposed to doctrinal changes. With the extreme 
views of the Protestants he had no sympathy whatever. 
Pohtical considerations forced him to connive for a time 
at the progress of the Reformation in England, but by 1539 
it was plain that the danger on the continent had passed 
away, and Henry was free to follow his natural conservatism. 
Parliament, completely subservient to his will, passed an 
act for " abolishing diversity of opinion in certain articles 
Six Articles, concerning Christian religion." The Act of the Six Articles, 
as this measure was called, contained the [^fundamental 
Cathohc doctrines and closed the way to even moderate 
doctrinal change. Under the "whip with six strings," perse- 
cution of the Protestants followed, and many were put to 
death. On the other hand, Henry abated nothing of his 
claim to supremacy, and side by side men died for deny- 
ing the Catholic doctrine and for maintaining the papal 
supremacy. Throughout the remaining years of his reign 
Henry succeeded in holding an uncertain balance between 
the old and the new order, but it was plain that a tide 
of feeling was rising which would soon sweep away all 
compromises. 



The Affaii's of Scotland 235 

Fall of Cromwell. — Closely connected with the triumph Green, 
of a reactionary policy was the fall of Cromwell. The PP- 361-363. 
great minister's foreign policy was based on a union with 
Protestant Germany, and in the interests of this scheme he 
had planned a marriage between Henry, now a widower for 
the third time, and a German princess, Anne of Cleves. 
But the grand alhance against the emperor miscarried, 
and Cromwell's doom was sealed by the king's dissatisfac- 
tion with the wife chosen for him. The nobles clamored 
for Cromwell's overthrow, and he met the usual fate of 
Henry's instruments when no longer of service. Charged 
with treason, he was seized at the council table, and sent 
to the scaffold by a bill of attainder^ without being heard 
in his own defence (1540). 

The Affairs of Scotland. — The remaining years of the 
reign were filled with trouble with Scotland. The defeat 
of Flodden Field (1513) had been followed by an outbreak Biight, ll, 
of lawlessness in the northern kingdom. A struggle between 414-419- 
parties representing the French and the EngHsh influence 
ended in the marriage of the king, James V, with Mary of 
Guise, and the triumph of the French interest. In 1542 
war between Francis I and Charles V involved the British 
kingdoms. A Scottish force crossed the border, but was 
defeated at Solway Moss. James V did not long survive 
the disgrace of defeat. He left the kingdom to his infant 
daughter, the famous Mary Stuart. 

Power of the Crown. — Under the second Tudor per- 
sonal rule reached its fullest development. All power was 
concentrated in the hands of the king, the Church lay at 
his feet. Parliament simply registered his wishes. The 
forms of constitutional rule were maintained, but in actual 
fact the government was despotic. At the royal bidding 
new treasons were created, the succession was changed, 

1 A bill of attainder was introduced into Parliament and became law 
like any other measure, after passing both Houses and receiving the royal 
assent. By this process condemnation to death could be secured in a 
summary manner and without the production of evidence, 



236 



The Tiidors and the Reformation 



Bright, II, 

420, 421. 

Creighton, 
Cardinal 
Wolsey, 
p. 132. 



royal proclamations were declared to have the force of law, 
and finally the king was permitted to name his successor 
by will.-^ Nevertheless Henry did not lose touch with the 
nation ; he understood the temper of his subjects and, 
unscrupulous and self-seeking though he was, he still won 
popular approval even while treading popular liberty under 
foot. 




Coronation Procession of Edward VI passing Cheapside Cross 

From a contemporary painting. Marck, Kdm'gin Elizabeth 



Edward VI (i 547-1 553). — The heir to the great power 
which Henry had built up was a boy of nine years. By the 
royal will a council representing both parties and including 

1 By his last will Henry left the crown to Prince Edward and his heirs, 
then to Mary and her heirs, then to Elizabeth and her heirs, and then 
to Mary of Suffolk and her heirs, passing over the descendants of his older 
sister Margaret of Scotland. 



The Protestant Revolution 237 

the chancellor, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Earl 
of Hertford, the young king's uncle, was appointed to 
govern the realm during the minority. The late king was 
still unburied when his will was set aside, and Hertford, now 
Duke of Somerset, was made Protector of the kingdom and Somerset, 
guardian of the young king. Somerset had little fitness for 
the place which he had seized. He was sincere and earnest 
and full of philanthropic ideas, but impulsive and over- 
confident. The task before him was a difficult one. Rela- 
tions with France and Scotland were critical, while at home 
there was much social discontent and religious division. 

The Scottish War. — Somerset's incompetency was at once Bright, II, 
Shown by his deaUngs with Scotland. With much effort 425-427- 
Henry VHI had established friendly relations with the 
Scots, and on the accession of Edward an unrivalled oppor- 
tunity offered for uniting the two countries by marrying the 
young king to the httle queen of Scots. Somerset's blunder- 
ing pohcy brought on a war with Scotland which, though it 
ended in the Enghsh victory of Pinkie (1547)^ had the 
effect of strengthening French influence across the border. 
Mary Stuart was carried to France and betrothed to the 
young Dauphin. In the war with France which soon 
broke out England could reckon on the hostility of Scotland. 

The Protestant Revolution. — Under the Protector's lead, 
many of the measures of the preceding reign were 
promptly reversed by Parliament. The Act of Six Articles 
was repealed, as were also all laws against heresy, and the 
statute giving royal proclamations the force of law was 
annulled. All the treasons created by Henry VHI were 
swept away. A later Parliament supplemented this action 
by requiring that henceforth the testimony of two witnesses 
should be necessary for conviction of treason. 

Somerset's advance to power meant the triumph of the Bright, ll, 
reform party. Personal conviction as well as self-interest "'^y^^^'^'^'^- 
led the duke to oppose the old order, and in this he was 4^^^/ 
supported by the young king, who had imbibed Protestant Elizabeth, 
ideas from his tutors. The short reign was a period of PP' ^ "^ * 



238 



The Tudors and the Reformation 



Green, 

pp. 364, 365. 



English 
Prayer- 
book. 



Creighton, 
Age of 
Elizabeth, 
pp. 19-23. 



religious revolution. Not content with constitutional and 
formal changes, Somerset sought to transform at once the 
doctrines and ritual of the Church. By law or by royal in- 
junction, a new order was introduced with bewildering 
rapidity. The sacred images were removed from the 
churches, the beautiful stained glass was broken, and the 
pictures painted on the walls were covered with whitewash. 
Marriage of the clergy was made legal. The vernacular 
supplanted Latin in the Church service. The mass was 
replaced by the communion service, and in 1549 the Eng- 
hsh Book of Common Prayer was substituted for the Latin 
missal and breviary upon which it was based. 

The confiscation of Church property was carried to a 
length unthought of by Henry. Somerset leaned for sup- 
port upon the " new men," the gentry and nobility en- 
riched by the plunder of the monasteries, and it was 
necessary to satisfy his rapacious followers. The chantries 
were despoiled, and gild property devoted to religious pur- 
poses was attacked. Cranmer tried in vain to have a por- 
tion of this wealth used for the rehef of the poorer clergy. 

The revolutionary measures were hurried through with 
small regard for popular feeling. Irreverence and unbridled 
license ran riot. Parodies of the mass were common. The 
spoil of the churches, altar-cloths, copes, chalices, were used 
to deck the halls of private persons. The newly married 
wives of the clergy eked out their wardrobes with ecclesias- 
tical vestments. Somerset did not hesitate to tear down 
churches to make room for his new palace in London. 

Popular Opposition and the Fall of Somerset. — From the 
first it was plain that the nation was not ready for extreme 
measures, but all resistance was put down with a high hand. 
The clergy were silenced by decrees that there should be no 
preaching save by a few hcensed preachers, and two of the 
bishops, Gardiner and Bonner, who clung to the old order, 
were flung into prison. But discontent was strong, and was 
increased by social grievances. Somerset's political policy 
was as ill-judged as were his ecclesiastical measures. Wars 



England under Northumberland 239 

with Scotland and France meant heavy taxation, and the 
repeated debasements of the coinage resulted in financial 
disorder. Moreover, it was a time of agrarian disturbance 
(p. 270), a state of things for which the government was 
not responsible, but which added to its unpopularity. 

In 1549, risings took place in Devon and Cornwall. The Bright, 11, 
insurgents demanded the restoration of mass and the re- 431-433- 
estabhshment of images. More serious was an insurrection 
in Norfolk, led by Ket, a tanner, and directed against 
enclosures. Order was restored only by employing a force 
of foreign mercenaries, the first time that such a force 
had been used against a rising of the people since the reign 
of John. These insurrections led to the overthrow of 
Somerset. He was disHked by many because of his reli- 
gious innovations and his futile foreign policy, while the 
readiness which he showed to treat with the insurgents in 
the matter of enclosures had aroused the fears of the 
landowners. 

England under Northumberland. — The office of Protector Bright, 11, 
was abolished at the fall of Somerset, but the power passed 434-438. 442. 
to the Earl of Warwick, later Duke of Northumberland. Creighton, 

. Age of Eliza- 

Northumberland was as nicapable as Somerset and far less ^^^/^^ 
honest and sincere. One of the grounds of complaint PP- 23-27- 
against Somerset was that he had not provided adequately Green, 
for the security of England at home or abroad, but matters ^^' ^ ^"-^ '^' 
did not improve under his successor. 

From self-seeking motives, Northumberland espoused the 
cause of the advanced reformers. Plunder of the Church 
was more shameless than ever, and some of the bishoprics 
were stripped of their endowments. In 1552 a revised ser- 
vice book was issued, and in the following year the Forty- Forty-two 
two Articles, drawn up by Cranmer, and strongly Calvinistic 
in character, were promulgated on the authority of the king, 
as the standard of faith for the nation. 

The little king had never been strong, and by 1553 it was 
plain that he had not long to live. By Henry's will his suc- 
cessor would be the Princess Mary, and it was certain that 



441-443- 



Tdmn. 



246 T/ie Tudors and tJie Reformation 

Northumberland and the Protestant cause could not hope to 
Bright, II, find favor with her. To save himself, the duke devised a 
plan of setting Mary and Elizabeth aside as illegitimate, in 
order to secure the crown to his daughter-in-law, the Lady 
Jane Grey, granddaughter of Mary of 
^Q . ^ p Suffolk. The young king's support for 
this scheme was won through repre- 
sentations of the danger to Protestant- 
ism from Mary's succession. Before 
the arrangements were complete, however, Edward died. 
Among the crowd of greedy intriguing courtiers the little 
king had moved a lonely and pathetic figure. His life was 
too short to show what kind of a ruler he would have been, 
but he was certainly studious and conscientious, with some 
plain indications of the Tudor strength of will. 
Green, Mary (1553-1558). — Intimidated by Northumberland, 

PP- 3 7. 3 • |-}^g Council proclaimed Lady Jane Grey queen of England. 
But the people hated Northumberland, and they knew noth- 
ing of the Lady Jane. The eastern counties rose in Mary's 
support, the duke's army refused to fight against her, and 
amid general rejoicing she was proclaimed queen by the 
same council that a little before had given the crown to her 
rival. 

The religious system which Edward and his advisers built 
up had rested chiefly on the power of the crown, and on the 
accession of Mary a reaction at once set in. Without inter- 
ference from the government, mass was restored, and, save 
in London and a few of the larger towns, there was a general 
return to the order estabHshed by Henry VHL 

Mary, however, was not content with undoing the work 
of Somerset and Northumberland : she wished to restore 
the ancient church in all its completeness, to reinstate the 
monasteries, to renew the connection with Rome. By the 
advice of Gardiner, whom Edward's death had set free, and 
who was now chancellor, Mary did not at first press these 
points. But she refused to recognize the marriage of the 
clergy, the deprived bishops were restored, and many of the 



Repeal of Protestant Legislatio 



n 



241 



leading Protestants were either driven into exile or, as 
in the case of Cranmer and Latimer, thrown into prison. 




Mary Tudor 

From a painting ascribed to Antonio Moro 



m 



axvi (^t y 



Mine 



Repeal of Protestant Legislation. — A carefully packed 
Parliament was convened (1554), and it showed great com- 



242 



The TiLdors and the Reformation 



jGreen, 
pp. 368, 369. 
Creighton, 
Age of 

Klizabeth, 
pp. 28-36. 



Wyatfs 
rising, 1554. 



Execution 
of Lady 
Jane Gre}', 



plaisance toward the royal policy. Both Houses attended 
the celebration of mass at the opening of the session. A 
bill was passed declaring illegal the decree of divorce pro- 
nounced against Catherine by Cranmer's court. All the 
measures of Edward VI touching the Church were repealed, 
and the order of worship as practised in the last years of 
Henry VHI was established after six days' debate. 

The Spanish Marriage. — Thus far Mary had encountered 
little opposition, but her next move aroused bitter hostility. 
The rivalry between Charles V and France had again broken 
out, and the emperor wished to secure the support of Eng- 
land by marrying the English queen to his son and heir, 
Phihp. Mary received the proposal favorably, but the 
nation was strongly opposed to the idea of a Spanish alli- 
ance, and the Commons petitioned against it. 

The popular indignation was turned to account by the 
friends of the Princess Ehzabeth. Risings were organized 
in diiferent parts of the country, but the movement was 
mismanaged, and failed everywhere except in Kent. There 
Sir Thomas Wyatt brought together a large force and 
marched upon London. Mary was in great danger, but with 
true Tudor energy and tact she threw herself upon the 
loyalty of the people. By her personal appeal their support 
was won, and the insurrection was put down. 

The failure of Wyatt's rising sealed the doom of Lady 
Jane Grey. She had been held a prisoner in the Tower 
since Mary's accession. Now, at the age of seventeen, she 
was led forth to die upon the scaffold. A vain attempt was 
made to imphcate Elizabeth in the insurrection, but she was 
too shrewd to have committed herself to a treasonable ris- 
ing, and the moderate party in the council was strongly 
opposed to severe measures against the next heir, so her 
life was saved. Parliament made no further opposition to 
the Spanish marriage, and in July, 1554, it was celebrated in 
spite of the lukewarmness of the bridegroom, who, much as 
he prized the English crown, cared little for its wearer. 

Persecution. — Mary now turned her attention to bringing 



The Spanish Marriage 



U3 



England again under the supremacy of Rome. Prepara- 
tions were carefully made, a new Parliament was called, 
and persons of influence were directed to secure the return 
of men of " wise, grave and Catholic sort." All efforts were 
in vain, however, and it soon became evident that recon- 
ciliation with Rome could never be brought about if it 
involved restoration of the abbey lands.^ The queen was 
obliged to compromise, and Parliament was at length 
brought to the point of acknowledging the spiritual head- 
ship of the Pope on condition that the confiscated estates 
were left undisturbed. 

Mary was determined to make real the reunion with 
Rome. In forcing her views upon the nation, she showed 
all the self-will of the Tudors united to the intemperate 
zeal of the fanatic. Her advisers hesitated, Philip coun- 
selled moderation, but nothing could deter the queen from 
the work upon which she had set her heart. She forced 
from Parliament a renewal of the Lancastrian laws against 
heresy and at once pressed on their execution. 

From 1555 to 1558 persecution raged, the only great 
persecution in English history. Neither high nor low were 
spared. The Martyr's Memorial at Oxford marks the place 
where Ridley, the deprived Bishop of London, and Latimer, 
Henry VHI's favorite preacher, were burned side by side. 
" Play the man, Master Ridley," were Latimer's last words ; 
" we shall this day hght up such a candle by God's grace 
in England as I trust shall never be put out." Foremost 
of the martyrs stood Cranmer, primate of the Church. Of 
great learning but of cautious temper, he had slowly come 
to take an advanced position in opposition to the papal 
claims ; but though his conviction was strong, his heart was 
weak, and he shrank before the final test. Six successive 
times he recanted in the hope of purchasing pardon, but 
pardon was out of the question. He represented the 
extreme party of English Protestants, and, moreover, Mary 
was personally hostile to him as an active agent in her 
1 Some forty thousand families were interested. 



Green, 

PP- 369-374. 



Creighton, 
yl^e of 
Elizabeth, 
PP- 36-38. 



Death of 
Cranmer, 
1556. 



244 



The Tudors and tJie Refonnation 



Loss of 
Calais, 1558. 



State of 
Europe. 



Creighton, 
Age of 

Elizabeth, 
pp. 51-53- 



mother's divorce. When once his final doom was pro- 
nounced, he regained his courage. " I have written many 
things untrue," he said, " and forasmuch as my hand 
offended in writing contrary to my heart, my hand, there- 
fore, shall be the first burnt." Nearly three hundred per- 
sons suffered for their faith, most of them in the towns and 
thickly settled districts, for there new opinions found more 
ready acceptance than in the country. 

Mary's Failure. — Darkened by bitter grief, the life of the 
unhappy queen drew to a close. She was disappointed in 
her hope of children, and she was forced to see that Philip 
had sought in her merely the instrument of his political 
schemes. Through the Spanish connection, England was 
involved in a useless war with France which resulted in the 
loss of Calais (1558). This was a heavy blow to the nation, 
and Mary was too much a Tudor not to feel the popular 
disapproval. Moreover, all her efforts had brought Eng- 
land no nearer the old faith ; nay, had rather frustrated her 
purpose. Men looked askance at a church that could 
maintain itself only through persecution. 

Elizabeth (1558-1603). — When Elizabeth ascended the 
throne of England, the political situation in Europe was 
complicated and threatening. The keynote to international 
politics was the rivalry between France and Spain. Charles 
V, weary of the ungrateful and difficult task of governing his 
scattered possessions, had abdicated in favor of his son 
Phihp II, who became ruler of Spain and the' Netherlands, 
and of unlimited territories in the New World. Philip's 
aim was to restore the mediaeval state, and to unite Chris- 
tendom, under the empire, not of Germany, but of Spain. 
In his way stood France, in close alliance with Scotland, and 
through her position a constant menace to the Low Coun- 
tries. 

The difficulties of the political situation were greatly in- 
creased by the state of religious feeling. The Reformation 
had entered upon a new phase. Under the influence of 
the Genevan reformer, John Calvin, Protestantism lost the 



Elizabeth 



245 



moderate and conservative character which Luther gave it, 
and became aggressive and vital. On the other hand, the 
Church of Rome was undergoing a change. It had at last 
learned that the Protestants must be fought with their own 




Elizabeth 

After " the Ermine portrait" at Hatfield House, painted by Zucchero 

weapons, that revolution could be arrested only by reform, 
and the Council of Trent was working out a comprehensive 
scheme for the purification of the Church. 



246 



The Tudors and the Reformation 



The 

Counter- 
Reformation. 



Creighton, 
Age of 
Elizabeth, 
PP- 153-155- 



Green, 

PP- 375-377- 



The Counter-Reformation, as this movement within the 
Roman Church was called, represented a real reform, and 
hence it was strong. The chief instrument of a purified 
papacy in the task of winning back Christendom to the 
ancient faith was the Society of Jesus, founded in 1540 by 
Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish knight. The Jesuits showed un- 
tiring zeal and devotion in their work of combating heresy 
and heathenism, and the broken ranks of the CathoHcs 
were slowly closing up. The union of France and Spain in 
support of the Papacy at this time would have made the 
Counter-Reformation irresistible. Protestantism was saved 
by the political jealousies of the two great Catholic powers. 
As it was, in Italy and in Spain all Protestant beginnings were 
destroyed. In France, the Netherlands, and Scotland, how- 
ever, the followers of Calvin were numerous and influential, 
and their spirit was ardent and determined. - 

Position of England. — The situation that confronted 
Elizabeth was one to daunt the stoutest heart. The Pope 
refused to recognize her title to the crown, England was at 
war with France, and the danger from that quarter was in- 
creased by the close connection between the French and 
Scottish governments. The treasury was empty, the coinage 
was in confusion, industrial conditions were disturbed. 
England stood alone. It is true that Phihp of Spain offered 
an alliance, even proposing marriage with Elizabeth, but" 
religious as well as political considerations made such a 
union impossible. 

The danger and difficulty of EHzabeth's position were 
greatly increased by the deepening religious divisions 
among the people. The bulk of the nation longed for 
peace, and might have agreed to a return to the ecclesiasti- 
cal system of Henry VIII, but rehgious strife had passed 
beyond the point of reconciliation. The Catholic party 
was bent on maintaining the connection with Rome. On 
the other hand, persecution had rendered fierce and uncom- 
promising the temper of the Protestants, and their cause 
was greatly strengthened by the return of the many exiles 



ElizabetJi s Foreign Policy 



247 



filled with Calvinistic ideas imbibed abroad. It would be 
difficult to devise an ecclesiastical policy which would find 
general acceptance, and it was certain that a foreign pohcy 
which meant either a Protestant or a Catholic alhance would 
at once precipitate rehgious strife at home. The union of 
France and Spain at this time would have been fatal to 
English independence, and it was not impossible that 
religious considerations would vanquish poHtical jealousies 




\ 



Autograph of Elizabeth 

Marck, Konigin Elizabeth 

and bring about an alliance between the two great Catholic 
powers in the interests of Rome. 

Elizabeth's Foreign Policy. — The pohcy which Elizabeth 
adopted in foreign affairs was cautious and temporizing. 
She saw that peace was what England needed above all 
things. "No war, my lords, no war," was her often re- Bright, il, 
peated warning at the council board. PhiKp's marriage ^q^£^^^^' 
offers were rejected, although in carefully courteous terms, Agi'of 
and the war with France was quickly brought to a close by E.hzabeth, 
the final abandonment of Calais. Henceforth, if Elizabeth ^' ^^' 
could have her way, England would be kept free from 
continental entanglements. Independence and peace were 
to be secured by playing off one foreign power against 
another, France and Spain were to be held in check by 



248 



The Tudor s and the Reformation 



Bright, II, 

492-494, 495. 

Green, 

pp. 381-384. 

Creighton, 

Age of 

Elizabeth, 

pp. 46-49. 

Acts of 
Supremacy 
and 
Uniformity. 



the fear which each had of driving England into union with 
the rival power. There were to be no close alliances. 
Assistance was to be given only where necessary to maintain 
that balance in Europe which alone seemed to afford 
security. To this course Elizabeth, with the counsel and 
guidance of her great minister, WiUiam Cecil, Lord Burleigh, 
steadily held England during the next thirty years. 

Elizabeth's Ecclesiastical Policy. — Elizabeth met the 
religious question by compromise. Personally she had 
little sympathy with either of the extreme parties. Protes- 
tant contempt for authority and tradition was distasteful 
to her. Subjection to Rome was impossible, for that would 
have meant to stamp herself as illegitimate. Moreover, as a 
Tudor she was unwilling to resign her authority over the 
Church. But she approached all religious questions in the 
temper of the poUtician. She saw that the convinced 
Protestants were her surest support, that her cause was 
theirs. But on the other hand she knew that severe 
measures against the Catholics would open the way to 
foreign intrigue. 

National unity in Church and State under the control of 
the crown was the aim of her home policy, and to this end 
a reHgious settlement was devised which would- win the 
support of the moderates and drive no one to extreme 
measures. By the Act of Supremacy of 1559, the connec- 
tion with Rome was finally broken. At the same time mass 
was abolished, and an Act of Uniformity decreed the use of 
King Edward's Prayer Book. The oath of Supremacy was 
rigorously exacted from ecclesiastics. Of the fifteen surviv- 
ing bishops of Mary's reign, fourteen preferred deprivation 
to comphance, but the parish clergy were more yielding, 
and less than two hundred out of nine thousand remained 
true to Rome. 

By a large portion of the nation, the Elizabethan settle- 
ment was accepted as a wise and moderate compromise 
between Rome and Geneva. Toward those who were not 
content with what had been done, leniency was shown. 



Scotland and Mary Stuart 249 

The Act of Uniformity was not rigidly enforced. The 
queen feared above all things the renewal of strife ; she 
discouraged preaching and she would gladly have seen the 
abatement of interest in religious questions. There was 
little excitement ; changes were quietly made, and yet 
within a year after Elizabeth's accession, England, in the 
face of the Counter-Reformation, had ranged herself once 
for all on the side of Protestantism. 

Scotland and Mary Stuart. — England's immediate danger 
was from Scotland. On the death of Mary Tudor, the 
young Scottish queen, now Dauphiness of France, refused 
to acknowledge Elizabeth as legitimate, and assumed, as 
next in succession, the title of Queen of England. The 
strength of her claim lay in the certain support of France 
and the English Catholics. 

More than two centuries had elapsed since Scotland Green, 
attained independence of England. Scotch history during 
the interval was a confused tale of anarchy and misery. 
Progress was slow. Border warfare was almost continuous, 
and the baronage retained its feudal and miHtary character. 
The country was wasted by the strife of rival families, the 
common people were oppressed and degraded, and there 
was little culture or industry outside the few towns. In 
1556 the population was but 600,000. A strong monarchy 
seemed the only hope of the country, but since Flodden 
Field the power of the crown had been weakened by two 
long minorities.^ 

But Scotland had now come under influences which were Creighton, 
to transform the national character. In the sixteenth cen- -^^ \ ., 
tury the Scottish Church was in much the same condition as pp. 55-61. 
the Church in England, wealthy, self-seeking, and without 
spiritual influence. While Henry VIII exercised an in- 
fluence in Scottish counsels, it seemed possible that the 
Reformation might be brought about by royal authority, 
but James V decided for France and for Catholicism. 

1 In 1513 James V became king at the age of two years. At his death in 
1542 he was succeeded by the infant Mary Stuart. 



250 



TJie Tjidors mtd the Reformation 



When the Reformation finally came, it was a national and 
popular movement. 

During the disorders of the regency of Mary of Guise, the 
reformed doctrines spread rapidly. The Church was in close 
alliance with the crown, and Protestantism came to be iden- 
tified with a growing dislike to French dominion. In 1557 




The 
Covenant. 

1557- 



HOLYROOD 

Marck, Kom'gin Elizabeth 1 

all who favored the new doctrine bound themselves together 
by a covenant or pledge to work for reform. Two years 
later, the Lords of the Congregation, as the leaders of the 
Covenanters were called, rose in rebellion against the 
established order, the Roman Catholic Church was over- 
thrown, and the French connection repudiated. An army 
was sent from France to aid the regent, and Protestantism 
in Scotland might have been crushed at the outset had not 
England been drawn into the contest. Now, ^s always, 



Scotland and Mary Stuart 251 

Elizabeth was loath to countenance rebellion, but she saw 
clearly the danger to England from French interference 
in Scotland. Aid was sent to the Lords of the Congregation, 
and before the close of 1560 the French had been expelled. 
By the treaty of Edinburgh Elizabeth's title to the English 
crown was recognized. 

The triumph of the Reformation in Scotland meant social 
and moral as well as eccesiastical revolution. Under the 
leadership of John Knox, the Church was organized in ac- 
cordance with the views of Calvin on a republican and Pres- 
byterian basis. Through their earnest, self-sacrificing spirit, 
the Reformed clergy came to wield great influence in Scot- 
land. They set to work to reform society, training the peo- 
ple in religion, in morals, and in politics. Under their stern 
rule the national character was disciplined and elevated. 

In 1559 Francis, the husband of Mary Stuart, suddenly 
died. There was no place in France for his widow, and 



Autograph of Mary Stuart 

Marck, Konigin Elizabeth 

after an absence of many years Mary returned to her own 
kingdom of Scotland. The queen was a mere girl of eigh- Creighton, 
teen, but she combined womanly grace and beauty with ^S^ ^f 

T • r-j jT_j TTu-j. -J Elizabeth, 

mascuhne vigor of mmd and body. Her subjects received 62-66 
their young sovereign with enthusiasm. Although the Green, 
change from the most brilliant court of Europe to the rude PP- 388-394. 
surroundings and rough independent ways of the Scottish 
court was great, Mary adapted herself skilfully to her new 
home. For a time all discord was silenced by her tactful 
diplomacy and personal fascination. She united the nobles 
in her support and settled the religious question by acknowl- 
edging the Calvinist establishment. These measures were, 



252 



The Tudors and the Reformation 



Marriage of 
Mary and 
Darnley. 



Creighton, 
Age of 
Elizabeth, 
pp. 76-79. 



Overthrow 
of Mary. 



however, but steps toward the attainment of the real end of 
her poHcy. An attempt to induce EHzabeth to recognize 
her as next in succession having failed, she now sought to 
organize a Catholic combination which would place her on 
the English throne. 

In 1565 Mary made a political marriage with her cousin, 
Lord Henry Darnley. Darnley was a Catholic and, hke 
Mary, was descended from Margaret Tudor. Elizabeth felt 
this act to be open menace, but she was powerless to inter- 
fere. Unfortunately for Mary's plans, the achievements of 
her diplomacy were speedily undone by the ungoverned pas- 
sions of her nature. Darnley was a miserable creature, ill 
fitted for such a wife. Anxious to increase his importance, 
he allied himself with the Protestant party among the nobles. 
At his instigation Rizzio, the queen's friend and secretary, 
of whose influence he was jealous, was slain almost before her 
eyes. Early in 1567 Darnley was murdered at Kirk o' Field, 
a lonely house near Edinburgh. Mary's part in the affair is 
doubtful, but at any rate she did not hesitate to marry within 
three months the man generally held to be responsible for 
Darnley's death. Brutal and self-seeking though he was, 
the Earl of Bothwell had succeeded in winning Mary's pas- 
sionate devotion, and for his sake she threw away reputation 
and kingdom. She had ruined her position with the Catholics, 
for Bothwell was a Protestant, her subjects were filled with 
horror at her act, and when the nobles, jealous of Bothwell's 
power, rose against the queen, the people refused to come 
to her assistance. Within a month of the ill-omened mar- 
riage, Bothwell had been driven into exile, and Mary was a 
prisoner in her own castle at Edinburgh. Before the end 
of 1568 she had abdicated in favor of her infant son and had 
fled to England to throw herself on the mercy of Elizabeth. 
It was not an easy situation for the English government to 
face. To replace her by force upon the Scottish throne was 
out of the question, nor did it seem wise to let her go to 
France to become an instrument of the Catholic party. 
The difficulty was met by holding her a prisoner in England. 



Poi'eign Affairs 



253 



With the overthrow of Mary Stuart all danger from Scot- 
land passed away. The alliance with France was broken. 

Mary's son, James VI, was crowned at Stirhng (1567), 
and mider the guidance of Regent Murrav, the young king's 
uncle, Scotland became definitely a Protestant power. 




Stirling Castle 

Foreign Affairs. — On the contment conditions had Creighton. 
changed. France, torn by poUtical and rehgious strife, was ^^.^f^^^j^^ 
no longer a menace to England. Catherine de' Medici, the pp. joy-no. 
queen mother and actual ruler, feared the power and ambi- 1x4-117. 
tion of the house of Guise, a branch of the royal line. 
This division among the CathoUcs enabled the Huguenots or Divisions m 
reformed party to make great headway in spite of the oppo- 
sition of the government. The Guises were supported by 
Philip of Spain, and under these conditions France sought 
the support of England. The French alliance was the 



254 



TJie Tudors and the Reformation 



Creighton, 
Age of 
Elizabeth, 

pp. 87-97. 
110-113, 118- 
120. 

Revolt of the 
Netherlands, 
1568. 



foundation of Elizabeth's foreign policy during the middle 
part of her reign. It was only temporarily interrupted by 
the terrible massacre of the Huguenots at the order of the 
French government in 1572. Elizabeth even went go far as 
seriously to entertain the idea of marrying one of the sons 
of Catherine de' Medici. Negotiations concerning the Duke 
of Anjou, and later, the Duke of Alengon, were carried on 
for some time, but came to nothing. 

The good understanding between France and England 
imposed a check upon Spain. Moreover, Philip's efforts to 
root out Protestantism throughout his dominions had resulted 
in the revolt of the Netherlands in 1568. The ruthless 
measures of Alva, the Spanish general, only made the Dutch 
more determined, and under the leadership of William of 
Orange, the movement to secure rehgious freedom was 
gradually converted to an attempt to throw off the rule of 
Spain. With all his resources, Philip was unable to crush 
the insurrection, and it was clear that interference from 
England would have insured his defeat. 

Thus Ehzabeth was mistress of the situation. Danger 
from France could always be averted by strengthening the 
Huguenots. The possibility of an aUiance between Eng- 
land and his Dutch subjects served - to hold Philip in 
check. 

Some of the royal ministers and a large party in the nation 
were opposed to this opportunist policy. They desired that 
Elizabeth should commit herself to the Protestant cause, by 
frankly taking sides with the French Huguenots and the re- 
volted Netherlanders. Moreover, they felt that the safety 
of England required the queen's marriage with a Protestant 
and the settlement of the succession. To such a course 
Elizabeth was steadily opposed. She preferred the tortuous 
methods of diplomacy to open, direct dealings. Policy for- 
bade her to wed the only suitor for whom she cared, the 
Earl of Leicester, one of her own subjects. Moreover, she 
realized that her marriage with a Protestant would at once 
precipitate a crisis by making the Catholics desperate. 




Longitude from Greenwich 



BORMAY & CCl.,ENQRiS,N..Ya 



256 



The Tudor s and the Reformation 



Thirty-nine 
Articles. 



Green, 

PP- 394-396. 



Catholic 
plots. 



Creighton, 

Age of 
Elizabeth, 
pp. 126-130. 
Bright, II, 
567-569- 



The 
Puritans. 



Enforcement of Uniformity. — At first Elizabeth had 
moved cautiously in her ecclesiastical policy, but the men- 
acing attitude of the Catholic powers led to increased 
rigor toward the English Romanists. In 1563, acceptance 
of thirty-nine of the forty-two articles promulgated under 
Edward VI was demanded of the clergy. The Act of Uni- 
formity was more stringently enforced, and by the Test Act 
of 1562, the first in a long series of penal statutes against 
the Catholics, the oath of supremacy was required of all 
members of the House of Commons. 

About 1569 the Catholic resistance came to a head. The 
failure of Mary Stuart in Scotland and the backwardness of 
the great orthodox powers helped to throw matters into 
the hands of the people. In 1569 the Earls of Westmore- 
land and Northumberland formed a plot to put Mary Stuart 
in Elizabeth's place, and to restore Cathohcism. Their 
scheme found support in the iforth, but the rising was easily 
quelled. In 1570 the Pope issued a Bull excommunicating 
Elizabeth, and two years later a new conspiracy against the 
queen was hatched. The object of the Ridolfi plot w^as, as 
before, the overthrow of Elizabeth and Protestantism. It 
was discovered in time by Cecil's spies, and the leading 
Catholic noble, the Duke of Norfolk, who, in case of suc- 
cess, was to have married Mary Stuart, was put to death. 

Religious disturbance was not all from the Catholic party. 
Many of the people felt that the queen had not gone far 
enough in the reform of the Church. They had no thought 
of separating from the estabhshment, and at first there was 
Httle objection to Episcopacy, but they desired greater sim- 
phcity of worship and a preaching ministry. The strict en- 
forcement of the Act of Uniformity after 1565 forced the 
Puritans, as they were called, into forming a definite party, 
and led to attempts on their part to establish their own 
meetings outside the Church. But they found no favor with 
the government. Their conventicles were suppressed, and 
the " prophesyings " or meetings of the Puritan clergy were 
prohibited. The bishops were the chief instrument through 



The Crisis of the Reign 257 

which the government acted, and there grew np in conse- 
quence a feehng of hostiUty to Episcopacy, which was 
strengthened by the growth of Presbyterianism in Scotland. 
In 1571, Cartwright, Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, 
in two addresses to Parhament, attacked the Episcopal 
organization as well as the prayer book ceremonial. The 
Puritans were not representative of the nation as a whole, 
but they were intelhgent and active, and they exerted an 
influence out of proportion to their numbers. 

The Crisis of the Reign. — For more than thirty years 
Elizabeth succeeded in keeping peace, and while other 
countries were wasted by war or torn with religious strife, 
England grew prosperous and strong. War had been so 
long averted only because Philip II, no less than Elizabeth, Green, 
was a sincere lover of peace. Fear of France, the financial PP- 4^3. 4i4- 
straits of Spain, his own incHnations, all led him to avoid 
war. Spanish ships were plundered on every sea by Eng- 
lish privateers. England gave aid and sympathy to the 
Dutch and opened her doors to the religious refugees ; still 
the Spanish king's instructions to his ambassadors were to 
strive to preserve EHzabeth's friendship. 

But circumstances were gradually forcing the two coun- Creighton, 
tries into war. The Papacy was becoming aggressive. In ^^'^ ^>^ 

Elizabeth, 

15 79 an attempt was made to strike a blow at England pp. 155-158. 
through Ireland, where the people were Catholic and dis- Green, 
affected. A little later it became plain that influences were PP- 410-413. 
at work to build up a Catholic party in Scotland. A well- 
organized plan was at length developed for the reconversion 
of England. In 1580 two Jesuit missionaries landed in The Jesuits. 
England, and others soon followed. . In various disguises 
they wandered about the country, reviving the zeal of the 
Catholic party. Their success was great, and there seemed 
to be danger that they might undo all that had been gained 
by EHzabeth's policy of compromise. Persecution was re- 
newed. Jesuits were made liable to the penalties of treason, 
and all harboring them were declared rebels. Catholics 
were commanded to recall their children from the continent. 




THE SPANISH EMPIRE 

REION OF PHILLIP II 



Spanish territory ^ 



80 West 60 



40 Louiritude 20 from Greenwich 20 



40 East eo 



BOBIIAY k CO.j^ ENOR'S^ N.Yj 



The Crisis of the Reign 259 

The fines for recusancy ^ were increased to ^20 a month. 
In 1584 a Catholic plot to remove Elizabeth by assassina- 
tion, and put Mary in her place, was discovered. The Creighton, 
reality of the danger that threatened the queen was shown ^<^^ °f 
by the murder of William of Orange, in this same year. pp^^i%^_i5o 
The Catholics stood now in open hostility. Still Elizabeth 
was unwilling to throw in her lot decidedly with the Protes- 
tants of the continent, and in 1585 she refused to accept the 
sovereignty of the Dutch States. 

On the continent the course of affairs was turning against Creighton, 
the reformers. In 1^84, by the death of the Duke of ^^<^^^/ 

Elizabeth 

Alengon, Henry of Navarre, head of the Huguenots, became pp. 161-166. 
heir to the French crown. The extreme Catholic element, 
led by the Guises, at once took alarm, and formed an aUi- 
ance with Spain with the avowed object of excluding Prot- 
estants from the French throne and extirpating Protestantism 
throughout Spanish and French territory. When Henry III, 
the French king, finally decided to throw in his lot with 
the League,^ the fate of the Huguenots seemed sealed. 

At the same time the position of the Netherlanders was 
becoming desperate. Everywhere the Spanish, under Parma, 
the greatest general of the century, - were gaining ground. 
Unless Elizabeth would see the Dutch revolt crushed she 
must send aid. In 1585 English troops under Leicester 
landed in Holland. 

Elizabeth was no longer mistress of the situation, and her Green, 
peace policy was breaking down. Her own subjects were pP' 415-418. 
forcing her hand ; they longed " to have a good, severe, open 
war with Spain, as the only road to an honorable settle- 
ment." The discovery at this juncture of Babington's 
conspiracy, a formidable plot organized by some of the 
Catholics to assassinate Elizabeth and place Mary Stuart on 
the throne, forced the government to act with decision and 
sealed the fate of the queen of Scots. . For eighteen years 

1 Recusants were those who refused to attend the services of the Estab- 
lished Church. 

2 The alliance between the Guises and Spain was known as the League. 



26o 



The Tudors and the Reformation 



Execution of 

Mary Stuart, 
1587- 



Creighton, 
Age of 
Elizabeth, 
pp. 172-180. 
Green, 
pp. 419-421. 
Froude, Hist, 
of England, 
ch. XKXVI. 



Green, 

pp. 438-445. 



Mary had been held a prisoner in England, the centre of 
Catholic intrigue. It was now urged that the only way of 
saving Elizabeth's life was to destroy the woman whose con- 
tinued existence gave encouragement to plans of assassina- 
tion. With unfeigned reluctance Elizabeth signed the death 
warrant, and on February 8, 1587, Mary was beheaded. 

The Armada. — Mary's death made it possible for England 
to meet Spain with a united front. For some time Philip 
had been planning an invasion of England. In 1588 the 
preparations were complete, and the " Invincible Armada," 
a fleet of over one hundred and fifty vessels, set sail for the 
English coast. With her usual parsimony and dilatoriness, 
Elizabeth had delayed taking measures for defence. The 
royal navy contained but thirty-eight ships all told, most of 
them small and ill equipped. But private enterprise made 
good the royal shortcomings, and the men of every port 
sent their best ships well manned to fight the Spaniards. 
The great enterprise ended in disaster. Parma and his 
troops from the Netherlands failed to effect a union with 
the fleet. The superior seamanship of the English made it 
possible for them to harass and destroy many of the Span- 
ish ships while avoiding the general engagement which they 
dared not risk. A terrible storm rendered unmanageable 
the unwieldy galleons of the Spaniards, and they were driven 
upon unfriendly coasts and lost. Of the great fleet but 
fifty-four ships lived to return to Spain. England's danger 
was past. 

Ireland under the Tudors. — In the reign of Elizabeth the 
conquest of Ireland was at last made real. For more than 
three centuries England had held nominal sway over the sister 
island, but outside the pale English authority was scarcely 
recognized. The Irish had even regained part of the terri- 
tory that they had lost. The English government was too 
poor and too weak to effect a real conquest, and it strove to 
control Ireland through the influence of some native chief. 
During a short period of quiet in the reign of Henry VII, 
Sir Edward Poyning was sent over to negotiate a settlement, 



IREILAND 

IN THE 16th century 

SCALE OF ENGLISH MILES 
10 20 30 40 50 




liOnritude 8 West from 7 Greenwich 6 



BORKAY & C0.,EN3R'S,N.Y. 



262 The Tudors and the Reformation 

and he succeeded in inducing the Irish Parliament to pass 
an act called Poyning's Law, by which its legislative de- 
pendence upon the king of England and his council was 
acknowledged. 
Green, The progress of the Reformation in England increased 

pp. 445-448. ^^g difficulties of the Irish situation. Protestantism had 
made no headway in Ireland, but Henry VIII had used 
tact in his dealings with the Irish chiefs, and the Royal 
Supremacy was generally acknowledged. Under Edward 
VI the Reformed Church was established by law, but 
nothing was done to educate the people in the reformed 
faith. The Bible was not translated into the native tongue, 
and the services were read in Enghsh. Under Elizabeth 
the same course was pursued. The result was to connect 
Protestantism with an alien and hated rule and to attach 
the Irish strongly to the ancient Church. 
Green, Unfortunately a new cause for trouble appeared at this 

pp. 448-453. time. The plan of conquering Ireland by colonizing dis- 
The affected districts with English settlers was first tried under 

Plantations. Mary, and the idea was eagerly caught up by the adventur- 
ous, money-getting spirit of the next reign. An insurrection 
among the native Irish of Ulster in 1565 forced the EngUsh 
government to turn its attention seriously to the problem of 
pacifying the country. The rebellion of Shane O'Neill was 
easily suppressed, but it led to the formation of plans for 
the planting of Munster with English settlers. Fear of 
being driven from the land roused the Irish to fury. A 
succession of insurrections in Munster, Ulster, and Con- 
naught followed. The interference of the Catholic powers 
of the continent increased the danger of the situation, and 
it was not until 1584, after fifteen years of warfare marked 
by terrible atrocities on both sides, that the Enghsh authority 
was reestablished and order restored. 

But the grounds for discontent were too deep rooted to 
be easily removed. Race hostihty combined with religious 
feeling and fear for their lands to keep disaffection alive 
among the Irish. In 1597 the O'Neills, led by the Earl of 



Close of Elizabeth ' s Reign 263 

Tyrone, broke out in revolt. The Earl of Essex, Leicester's Tyrone's 
stepson, was sent over with a large army, but his expedition rebellion, 
was a failure. The Spanish came to Tyrone's aid, and it was ^^^^" 
not until 1602 that the rebellion was crushed. The conquest 
of Ireland seemed at last complete. The leaders had been 
cut off, every rising had been followed by confiscations, and 
half the gentry had been dispossessed. The land was deso- 
late and the people were filled with bitterest hatred toward 
the English. 

Close of Elizabeth's Reign. — The destruction of the Ar- 
mada was the turning-point in Elizabeth's reign. One by one 
the dangers which beset her when she ascended the throne 
had cleared away. Although the war with Spain still dragged 
on, there was no fear of a second invasion. In 1593 Henry 
of Navarre, the Huguenot leader, became king of France. 
In Scotland, James VI was looking forward hopefully to 
succeed Elizabeth on the throne and guided his course in 
accordance with her wishes. 

Domestic dangers had been overcome by the queen's mod- Bright. II, 
eration and by her broad, national treatment of the religious ^^g. 570. 
question. At the time of the Armada, patriotic feeling 
triumphed and the Catholics remained loyal, refusing to take 
advantage of the difficulties of the government. Many of 
them found their way into the Anglican Church, and formed 
the nucleus of the High Church party of the next reign. The 
queen persisted in refusing all concessions to the Puritans. 
The Court of High Commission, permanently organized in 
1583, to exercise the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the crown, 
took severe measures to repress nonconformity. It was 
impossible, however, to put down the Puritans. They were 
a strong element in the House of Commons and found sup- 
port even in the Privy Council. Persecution only increased 
their activity. A vigorous pamphlet war was carried on 
against what they held to be abuses in the Church.^ Some 
of the extreme Protestants carried their views so far as to 

1 A series of tracts, signed Martin Marprelate, attacked the bishops 
violently, causing great excitement. 



264 



The Tiidors and the Refoi^mation 



The Inde- 
pendents. 



Green, 
pp. 404-zi 



Political 
Oratiotis, 
Camelot 
Series. 



Creighton, 
Age of 
Elizabeth, 
pp. 228, 229. 



separate from the Church, and formed the Brovvnist or Inde- 
pendent sect ; but in the main, although desirous of certain 
changes, they supported the Episcopal estabhshment. 

In pohtical matters, a good understanding existed between 
the queen and her subjects. The administration was eco- 
nomical ; Parliament responded cheerfully, as a rule, to the 
royal demands for supplies. In 1601 an attack was made 
on the assumed power of the crown to grant monopolies.-^ 
This was an important source of revenue, but the House 
made a determined stand, and the queen gave way with 
dignity. It was plain that a spirit of independence was 
growing. Parliament, at the close of the century, was a 
very different body from the Parliament that Henry VIII 
had used to carry out his will under constitutional forms. 
The Upper House had gained by the substitution of a lay 
for a spiritual majority after the dissolution of the monas- 
teries ; yet the new nobility, of which it was largely com- 
posed, was still subservient to the crown and rarely opposed 
the royal will, — but in the House of Commons there was 
great change. Constant employment in important business, 
even though as a tool, had given it experience and confidence. 
A powerful middle class, wealthy, intelligent, and trained in 
the conduct of local affairs, had sprung up in the towns and 
in the country, and now formed the strongest element in 
the Lower House. Lawyers had become numerous and 
influential. Puritan feeling, the new spirit of enterprise, 
increased foreign intercourse, all combined to give the 
Commons a bolder temper and greater breadth of view.^ 
The discipline of a century was bearing fruit. 

In 1603 the old queen died. With masculine intellect 
and womanly devotion she had labored in the service of the 

1 The exclusive right of trading in some article of commerce. 

2 Until the sixteenth century local residence was required of shire and 
borough representatives. Under the Tudors this requirement was con- 
stantly evaded, and was repealed in 1571 as regards burgesses. This 
change had the effect of bringing into Parliament a more independent and 
intelligent class of men. During this century the practice of paying mem- 
bers died out. 



Close of Elizabeth's Reign 



265 



nation, sacrificing personal happiness to its interests, and 
she spoke from the heart in her last words to the Commons : 
"Though you have had, and may have many princes 
more mighty and wise sitting in this seat, yet you never 
had, or ever shall have, any that will be more careful and 
loving." Under Ehzabeth the power of the Tudor mon- 
archy reached its height. Her rule was a national rule, for 
what was true of Henry VHI was even truer of his great 
daughter. The strength of the throne lay not in wealth or 
force, but in the national support given because of the 
people's confidence in their ruler. 



Green, 

PP- 453. 454. 




Elizabeth's Cradle 

Winter, Shakespeare's England 



Important Events 

Reign of Henry VII, 1 485-1 509. 
Alliance with Scotland, 1503. 

Reign of Henry VIII, 1 509-1 547. 

War with France, 15 12-15 14. 

Fall of Wolsey, 1529. 

Long Parliament of the Reformation, 1 529-1 536. 

Marriage with Anne Boleyn, 1533. 

Separation from Rome, 1534. 

The Six Articles, 1539. 

Fall of Cromwell, 1540. 



266 The Tudors and the Reformation 

Reign of Edward VI, 1 547-1 553- 

War with Scotland, 1547. 
Overthrow of Somerset, 1549. 

Reign of Mary, 1553-1558. 

Marriage with Philip, 1554. 
Reunion with Rome, 1554- 
Beginning of persecution, 1555. 
Loss of Calais, 1558. 

Reign of Elizabeth, i 558-1603. 

Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity, 1559. 
Overthrow of Mary Stuart, 1567. 
Foundation of the United Netherlands, 1572. 
Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 1572. 
Arrival of Jesuits, 1580. 
Execution of Mary Stuart, 1587. 
Defeat of the Armada, 1588. 



Chief Contemporaries 267 












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CHAPTER IX 

ENGLAND OF THE TUDORS 

Books for Consultation 

Sources 

Hall, Chronicle of England. 

Holinshed, Chronicles. 

Harrison, Description of England. 

More, Utopia. 

Discourse of the Commoft Weal of this Realm of England. 

Latimer, Sermons. 

Hakluyt, Collection of Voyages of the English Nation. 

Harrisse, Discovery of North America. 

Special Authorities 

Cunningham, Alien Immigrants to England. 

Thorold Rogers, Six Centuries of Work and Wages. 

Cunningham and MacArthur, Outlines of English Industrial History. 

Hewins, Eizglish Trade and Finance. 

Ashley, Economic History. 

Froude, History of England, Vol. I, Ch. I; English Seamen. 

Seeley, Expansion of Englatid. 

Traill, Social England. T 

Corbett, Drake. 

Creighton, Sir Walter Raleigh. 

Imaginative Literature 
Kingsley, Westward Ho ! 

The Transformation of England. — Modern England, a 
great maritime, commercial, and industrial power, began 
to take shape under the Tudors. Social and economic con- 
ditions were changing, the old mediaeval industrial system 
was breaking up, and trade and commerce, animated by a 
keener and bolder spirit, sought out new channels of enter- 

268 



The Transformation of England 269 

prise. In the fifteenth century England was still in the 
main an agricultural country; wheat and wool were her 
staple crops, and she bore to Flanders the relation that 
Australia now bears to the mother country. By 1600 wool 
was no longer sent abroad, and woollen cloth had become 
an important article of export.^ 

When the first Tudor ascended the throne, a royal navy 
scarcely existed, and much of England's carrying trade 
was in the hands of foreigners. The defeat of the Armada 
in the reign of Elizabeth paved the way for the ultimate 
maritime and commercial supremacy of England. Fore- Causes for 
most amongst the causes for these changes was the discovery ^^^ange. 
of the New World. Trade with America was important, 
and England's position to the west of Europe gave her at 
once a superiority over all rivals. The religious conflicts 
of the continent, resulting as they did in the disturbance 
of trade and industry there, redounded greatly to England's 
advantage. It was the destruction of Antwerp by Alva that 
made possible the development of London into the leading 
mart of Europe. The order and peace of England under 
Tudor rule attracted capital, and the greater liberty of 
worship brought to her shores religious refugees, who 
enriched the kingdom with their industry and skill. 

Nor should the effect of the policy of the crown be over- 
looked. The Tudor rule was despotic, but it was at least 
"paternal. The statute books of the century testify to the 
unwearying interest of the government in the welfare of the 
people and in the development of national wealth. No 
aspect of industry was overlooked. Agriculture, commerce, 
manufacture, each received attention. Encouragement was 
given to new enterprises, efforts were made to stimulate de- 
caying industries. Exports and imports were regulated, 
prices were fixed, and the character and quality of goods to 
be manufactured were prescribed. Wages were determined 
by law and the conditions of service settled by the govern- 

1 Exportation of woollen cloth amounted to 5000 pieces in 1354, to 120,000 
pieces in 1547. 



270 



England of the Tndors 



ment in minute detail. The records of the first session of 
Elizabeth's second Parliament illustrate the all-pervading 
activity of the State. On the same page stand acts for the 
maintenance of tillage, for the regulation of artificers, 
laborers, and apprentices, for the maintenance of the navy 
and fisheries, for the exclusion of divers foreign wares, and 
against the carrying of sheepskins and pelts out of the king- 




Traill, II, 
544-55° ; 

III, 

II4-II8, 
239-241, 
351-359. 

533-535- 



Old London Bridge [ 

Marck, Kdm'giit Elizabeth 

dom. Everywhere the State interfered to direct individual 
enterprise. 

The Agricultural Revolution. — In the latter part of the 
fifteenth century sheep-raising had become very profitable, 
because of the great demand for English wool and the high 
prices paid for it. There resulted a strong tendency to 
the formation of great sheep farms, and estates were rapidly 
converted from tillage to pasture. As land became in- 
creasingly valuable the commons were enclosed, and the^ 



The AgrictUtural Revolution 



271 



Bright, II, 
470, 471. 

Enclosures. 



Open fields, the arable lands tilled by the villagers, were 
not infrequently seized by the lord under a strained inter- 
pretation of his property rights. Evictions of the peasants 
became frequent; houses, whole villages even, were torn 
down, and the fields were converted into sheepwalks. 
The report of a royal Commission of Inquiry in 15 17 gave 
many instances of villages made desolate. " All the houses 
of Burton Lazars in the same vill (Choysell) are laid waste, 
and the inhabitants have departed; and there belong to the 
same houses 300 acres of land, whereof 40 are ploughed, but 
the rest are in pasture; and by this downfall, the church 
has fallen into ruins." 

These changes brought profit to the landlords and to 
yeomen holding land in their own right, but they entailed 
great suffering on the cottagers and small tenant farmers. 
Rents were raised and at the same time the rights of com- 
mon pasture were cut off. Moreover, work became scarce, 
for one man was now employed where formerly the labor of 
many was required. " For whereas," wrote Latimer, "have 
been a great many householders and inhabitants, there is 
now but a shepherd and his dog." Sir Thomas More, 
in his Utopia, voiced the popular grievance: "Sheep," 
he declared, " become so great devourers and so wild that 
they eat up and swallow down the very m.en themselves. 
They consume, destroy, and devour whole fields, houses, 
and citizens." The small holders were ruined, and many 
of them became homeless wanderers, swelling the ranks of 
paupers and vagabonds. 

The government recognized the evil of this state of Legislation, 
things and strove to meet it by legislation. It was decreed 
that no man should keep more than two thousand sheep, 
and at the dissolution of the monasteries a statute was 
passed requiring the new owners to "occupy yearly as much 
of the same demesnes in ploughing and tillage of husbandry 
... as hath been commonly used." But these measures 
availed little, and as late as 1597 Parliament was still legis- 
lating against enclosures. The money-making spirit of the 



2/2 



England of the Tiidors 



age was too strong to be controlled. By fraud and petty 
persecution the small men were driven off the land. It 
was a common practice to run a single furrow over a field 
and then declare it ploughed. Hales, a contemporary 
writer, speaks of men "fathering sheep on children and 
servants," thus keeping within the limit of the law. The 




View in Great Friar's Street, Worcester 

Britton, Picttiresgue Antiquz'ties of the English Cities 



evil continued until the beginning of the next century, when 
the diminished value of wool and the high prices of meat 
and grain brought about a change and led to the conver- 
sion of pasture lands back to tillage. 

The Decay of Towns. — Not alone in the country were 
great changes taking place. Side by side with laws which 
point to the miserable condition of the rural population 
are others that would seem to indicate the decay of industry 



The Decay of Tozvns 273 

and trade and the impoverishment of the towns. Many 
anciently important places lost in population and wealth 
during this period. 

The decay of towns was chiefly due to the ill-judged 
monopoly of the gilds, which discouraged new enterprises ^^'^^"^2|'_ 
in the districts they controlled. The usefulness of the gild ^f^;^ 
system was gone; it no longer served its original purpose, pp. 66-68. 
since the societies had become narrow corporations. Mem- The Gilds, 
bership was restricted to the sons of members or to such 
outsiders as could pay heavily for the privilege, hence it 
was no longer possible for the average journeyman to be- 
come a master craftsman. The general policy of the gov- 
ernment was to strengthen the gilds while bringing them 
under local control, but the increasing activity of trade 
was inconsistent with the antiquated regulations, and labor 
and capital turned to the rural districts and to towns where 
the old system of restriction had never been authorized. 
Thus while old centres of industry fell into decay, new vil- 
lages, such as Manchester and Sheffield and Birmingham, 
were becoming rich and important. 

Growth of Manufactures. — Manufactures steadily gained 
in importance under the Tudors. The government was 
unremitting in its endeavors to promote an interest so Protection, 
favorable to national prosperity, and did what it might 
to foster domestic industry. The export of materials that 
might be manufactured at home was forbidden and the con- 
sumption of English goods was enforced by statute. In 
the reign of Elizabeth it was enacted that every person, 
except ladies, peers, and a few others, should "on Sundays 
and Holidays wear on their Head a Cap of Wool made in 
England." 

The manufacturing interest owed less, however, to legis- ^^';""'""' 
lation than to the steady hospitality which the government pp_ j3_j5_ 
extended to the persecuted of other lands. In the latter 
part of the reign of Henry VIII there began an immigra- Immigration, 
tion of religious refugees which continued for more than a 
century and a half. These refugees, who came chiefly from 

T 



2/4 England of the Ttidors 

France and the Netherlands, were usually skilled workmen, 
and they introduced many new and important industries.^ 
The foreign craftsmen were most numerous in the eastern 
counties, but they settled in many parts of the country. 
They sometimes took possession of abandoned monastic 
buildings. About 1544 Flemings and Walloons swarmed 
into England and established at Norwich the silk industry, 
the source of the later prosperity of that region. Sheffield 
owed the great improvement in its cutlery to the same 
source. At the fall of Antwerp, one-third of the merchants 
and manufacturers of that city came to London and laid 
the foundations of its commercial greatness. Spite of the 
political complications that the reception of these exiles 
occasionally caused, the attitude of the government was 
usually friendly. Sometimes immigration was opposed by 
the jealousy of the English, but as a rule its value was 
recognized, and several towns petitioned the government 
to have strangers allotted them. 
Qj.ggjj Favored by political and economic conditions, manufac- 

p. 397. tures took a vigorous start. The eastern counties were 

noted for their worsteds and fine cloth, and even the back- 
ward north felt the effect of the new spirit and developed 
its own special line of friezes and rough goods. Silk 
weaving, the making of felt hats, the manufacture of ord- 
nance, — all were industries of national importance, em- 
ploying many hands, and adding wealth to the country. 

The Royal Navy. — It had been the policy ol the English 
sovereigns to own but few ships, and to depend in time of 
war upon vessels furnished by the Cinque Ports - in accord- 
ance with their charters, and on vessels impressed for the 
occasion. 

Henry VII did something to strengthen the royal fleet, 
and Henry VIII still more. The latter king organized the 
navy as a standing force, and from this time the names of 
great admirals appear side by side with those of great 

1 Such as the making of lace, thread, needles, paper, fustian, and silk. 

2 The Cinque Ports were Sandwich, Dover, Hythe, Romney, and Hastings. 



TJie Royal Navy 



275 



generals. The pride of Henry's fleet was the Henri Grace Trail), ll, 

a Dieii. In this magnificent vessel the kinsr sailed from 494; 

III 
Dover to meet Francis on the Field of the Cloth of Gold. 41-81462 

Henry increased the navy to seventy vessels, but under his 470-472. 

successors it declined. The loss of Calais, although in the 

end a great advantage to England, was strategetically an 

injury to her maritime position. Elizabeth, thrifty here 

as everywhere, was unwilling to spend upon a navy. Of 




The Ship Henri Grace a Dieu 
Cumberland, The Story of the Union Jack 

the vessels that went out to meet the Armada, only about 
thirty belonged to the State. Toward the close of Eliza- 
beth's reign the royal navy was increased somewhat by cap- 
tures from the Spanish and by a few new ships.^ Although 
the government did little directly to build up a navy, yet 
it made some effort to foster the fisheries, as the best school 
for seamanship. Early in the reign of Elizabeth, a statute 
was passed making the eating of flesh on Friday and Satur- 
day a misdemeanor, in order to create a market for fish 
and so forward the "increase of fishermen and mariners." 

1 The largest and finest British-built ship of the century was the Triiimph, 
of about 1 100 tonnagfe. 



2/6 



England of the Tndors 



Froude, Hist. 

of England, 
ch. IX. 



Merchant 
Companies. 



Exploration and Commerce. — Henry VII was quick to 
see what would increase the wealth and prosperity of the 
country, and he did much to advance commerce and the 
carrying trade. He made commercial treaties with Den- 
mark and Florence and Flanders. The treaty with Flanders, 
"The Great Intercourse" (1496), provided for free trade 
"in all commodities to each other's ports without pass or 
license," and Henry caused it to be sent to all the great 
towns in England, that the mayor might af^x to it the seal 
of the city "for equality and stableness of the matter." 
Laws were also passed for the encouragement of the carry- 
ing trade. Henry's example was followed to some extent 
by his successors, but the results were not great. In 1573 
the burden of all ships engaged in the regular trade was less 
than fifty thousand tons. 

In the sixteenth century commercial enterprise was 
closely connected with exploration and adventure, and 
Englishmen seemed loath to venture forth upon untravelled 
ways. England's first great achievement in the exploration 
of the New World was undertaken by foreigners. John and 
Sebastian Cabot were Genoese sailors who made voyages 
along the east coast of North America under the auspices 
of Henry VII, and so claimed the land for the English 
king. John Cabot returned from this famous enterprise in 
July, 1497, and in August the king's diary contains the fol- 
lowing entry: "To him that discovered the new Isle ;£io." 
In spite of the small cost to the crown of -these explora- 
tions, the Cabots met with little encouragement, and in 
15 1 2 Sebastian left the English service not to return until 
the reign of Edward VI. He was then induced to accept 
an office created for him, that of " Governor of the Mystery 
and Company of the Merchant Adventures for the Discov- 
ery of Regions, Dominions, Islands and Places unknown." 
From the middle of century commerce slowly developed. 
Merchant companies were formed to secure a share in the 
trade of foreign lands. The Russia Company was founded 
in 1566, and the Turkey Company in 1581, but the most 



Exploration and Commerce 



277 



important by far of these associations was the East India 
Company, which was incorporated in 1600, and which was 
to play an important part in English history in the follow- 
ing centuries. 




Drake 



'"■[^^^^^ <3i2n ar ^ >^ 



Under Elizabeth many influences combined to transform Green, 
the stay-at-home English into a nation of mariners and PP- 398, 399- 
explorers. The spirit of adventure and the love of gain 
were growing. Moreover, England's cherished indepen- 



278 



England of the Tudoj's 



Green, 

pp. 415-417. 

419. 

Traill, III, 

472-475- 



Traill, II, 
457-464. 
Ill, 
29-34- 



dence was endangered by Spain, and Spain was a maritime 
state and striving to hold a monopoly of the New World. 
Thus England was forced to build up her power on the 
sea. Moreover, Spain, as the champion of the Pope, made 
war on Protestant shipping. Hence religious fervor and 
patriotism combined to give something of the character of a 
crusade to enterprises that were often little more than buc- 
caneering raids. The risks were great, but the returns were 
even greater, and privateering ^ became a favorite occupa- 
tion for sea-captains and a profitable investment for capital. 

Elizabeth favored the privateers. She liked daring and 
adventure, and delighted in achievements secured without 
expense to the crown. So while the two governments were 
still formally at peace, Spanish and English sailors were 
fighting on every sea, and politic as might be Elizabeth's 
regrets for the depredations committed by her subjects, she 
was too wise to interfere with enterprises that increased 
the national wealth and insured the national defence. 
Unchecked, therefore, by the government, irregular com- 
merce flourished, while Drake and Raleigh and Hawkins 
and a host of others made the name of England famous 
throughout the world. Although the general trend was 
westward, yet English ships were found on all seas, in the 
Mediterranean and in the Pacific, in the China Sea, and 
in the Indian Ocean. 

The Old Order and the New. — The organization of society 
in England underwent a great transformation in the six- 
teenth century. The old balance of classes had broken 
down. The Reformation deprived the clergy of much of 
their former power. They had lost their predominance in 
the House of Lords; they were no longer employed in the 
great ofhces of State. Their wealth and territorial influence 
had vanished, and, more than all else, with the x'\ct of Su- 
premacy their independence was gone. The strongest class 
of the preceding centuries was now become the weakest. 



1 A privateer is an armed private vessel commissioned by a state to make 
war upon the enemy's commerce. 



Pauperism and Poor Relief 279 

The ancient nobility, with their military habits, their 
feudal traditions, and their great local importance, had 
well-nigh disappeared. In the north alone did they retain 
something of their former power and spirit. The new 
nobility which had replaced the old were of the official or 
courtier class; they owed their estates to the crown; they 
had little local influence, and they rarely showed any 
political energy. 

The growing importance of the middle class gave it an 
influence in legislation equal to that of the nobility. The 
townsmen were richer, more energetic, and more intelli- 
gent than ever before. Many families rose to position and 
influence through the distribution of the monastic property. 
The growth of trade and commerce created a class of * 
wealthy merchants eager to possess themselves of land and 
to found county families. These different elements, bound 
together by many interests, trained in public work through 
service as justices of the peace,^ and in close touch with 
outside concerns, formed the strongest class in the realm, 
and furnished the basis of the Tudor power. 

Among the lower classes diverse tendencies were ap- 
parent. The small landowners, the yeomanry, gained in 
strength, but on the other hand the small tenant farmers 
and the laborers underwent a season of great misery and 
depression, and many of them were forced to have recourse 
to charity. 

Pauperism and Poor Relief . — Transition always implies Bright, 11, 
suffering, and it was to be expected that the disturbed 468-472. 
industrial conditions would for a time affect disastrously 
the working classes. The marked increase in pauperism 
during the century is therefore not surprising. 

One cause of the evil was found in the agricultural 
changes. More describes in forcible words the condition 
of those evicted to make room for sheep : " By one means 

1 Unpaid county ofiRcers appointed by the crown, with power to maintain 
order and to administer justice in petty cases. The office dates from the 
reign of Richard I, the title from the reign of Edward III. 



28o 



Engla7id of the Tiidors 



Cunning- 
ham, 
pp. 142-144. 



Traill, Social 
Eftgland, 

III, 
245-256, 

548-558. 

Green, 

PP- 396, 397- 



or Other . . . they must needs depart away. ... All their 
household stuff . . . being suddenly thrust out, they be con- 
strained to sell it for a thing of naught. And when they 
have wandered abroad till that be spent, what can they else 
do but steal, or else go about a-begging? and yet then also 
they be cast in prison as vagabonds, because they go about 
and work not; whom no man will set a work though they 
never so willingly proffer themselves thereto." The diffi- 
culties of the situation were aggravated by the rise in prices 
due to the issues of debased coin^ under Henry VIII and 
Edward VI, and in the reign of Elizabeth to the influx of 
silver from America. Moreover, the decay in husbandry, 
combined with the great increase in the population, from 
two and one-half millions in 1485 to four millions in 1547, 
occasioned a real scarcity of food. 

In the sixteenth century, as now, side by side with the 
helpless poor were found the worthless and the lazy. Com- 
plaints were frequently made of the "sturdy beggars," fore- 
runners of the modern tramp, who swarmed over the country, 
terrorizing the rural districts. A contemporary writes of 
them: "If they ask at a farmer's house his charity, they 
will go strong as three or four in a company, where for 
fear more than good will they often have relief." 

At first there was no systematic attempt to cope with the 
evil. Relief of the poor was originally a function of the 
Church, especially of the monasteries. The dissolution of 
the religious houses and the seizure of gild property de- 
stroyed the only system for alleviating poverty in existence. 
It was impossible, however, that a government so paternal as 
that of the Tudors should not endeavor to meet this need, and 
step by step, by means of a long series of experiments, an 
elaborate system of poor relief was worked out. The re- 
sponsibility of the civil power for the care of the poor was 

1 Under Henry III the coinage was systematically debased both in weight 
and in quality. This example was followed by Edward and Mary. In 1560 
Elizabeth brought about the reestablishment of a sound currency by calhng 
in the debased coins, paying for them in good new money. 



Social Habits 



281 



fully recognized, and what was formerly a religious duty, .to 
be enforced by the Church, was now accepted as a public 
charge, to be met by a regular assessment on property by the 
local authorities. Each parish was bound to support its 
own poor. Gradually the proper distinction between pau- 
pers and vagabonds was worked out, houses of correction 
were erected for the lazy and vicious, while suitable relief 
was given to the helpless poor, and children were appren- 
ticed to a trade. Some effort was also made to provide 
work for able-bodied paupers. In 1601 the long series of 
statutes culminated in the great poor law of Elizabeth, an 
elaboration of the principles and machinery already recog- 
nized. This in its main provisions remained the basis of 
the English system of poor relief until the eighteenth 
century. 

The close of the century saw not merely the establish- 
ment of a well-organized system of poor relief, but also a 
general improvement in the condition of the working 
classes. This was due chiefly to the increased demand for 
labor arising from the extension of the area under tillage, 
from improved methods of agriculture, and from the de- 
velopment of manufactures. 

Social Habits. — Extremes met in sixteenth-century Eng- 
land; the growth in luxury and extravagance was as marked 
as the increase in pauperism. Everywhere were visible 
new conceptions of comfort, increased attention to display. 
From the time of Henry VIII there was a marked tendency 
toward rather vulgar ostentation in living. The gloomy, 
fortress-like dwellings of the nobility gave place to the Eliz- 
abethan manor-house, with its wide portals and long lines 
of windows. In the towns, the growing wealth of the mer- 
chant class was indicated in the appearance of much finer 
residences, and throughout the country generally wooden 
houses were replaced by dwellings of brick or stone. A 
contemporary writer, in speaking of the changed manner 
of living, notes "the multitude of chimnies latilie erected," 
"the great amendment of lodging," "the exchange of ves- 



The great 
poor law, 
1601. 



Harper's, 
vol. 83, pp. 
602, 780, 941. 



Bright, II, 
466, 467, 486, 
487. 

Green, 

pp. 400, 401. 



282 



England of the Tiidors 




Green, 

PP- 315-330- 



Interior of the Stratford Grammar School (Sixteenth Century) 

Winter, Gray Days and Gold 

sels, as of woodden platters into pewter, and woodden 
spoons into silver or tin." Increased gorgeousness of attire 
was as marked as improved house-furnishings. The Eng- 
lishmen's love of feasting had always been noticeable. A 
Spaniard, writing in the time of Mary, said of them, " they 
fare commonly as well as the king." This spread of luxury 
was viewed by many with dismay. *' England spendeth more 
on wines in one year than it did in ancient times in four 
years," was the complaint of a royal minister. Numerous 
sumptuary laws ^ were passed, with, however, but little effect. 
England and the Kew Learning. — The Renaissance, the 
great intellectual movement of the fifteenth century, was 
the result of many influences. The unknown treasures of 
classic learning brought by Greek scholars escaping from 
Constantinople before the Turk, the stirring discourses of 
Italian and Portuguese mariners, the popularizing of books 

1 Laws restraining the expenditure of subjects on apparel, food, furni- 
ture, or the like. 



England and the New Learning 



283 



by means of the printing-press, the increased intercourse 
among nations which followed upon the consolidation of 
the great states of France and Spain, — all these things 
combined to bring about the spiritual and intellectual 
awakening of western Europe. 

During the civil wars intellectual interests had little 
chance. But early in the sixteenth century the new learn- 
ing made itself felt. Although the English Renaissance 
received its impulse from Italy, it at once assumed a 
character of its own. It was less concerned with culture 
as such, it was more moral and practical. Numbered 
among its patrons were the great men of the time, — Arch- 
bishops Warham and Wolsey and Henry VIII. At Oxford The Oxford 
a remarkable group of scholars was gathered, and under ^^^ormers. 
their influence education was transformed. In the life and 
work of Colet, Erasmus, and More the diverse aspects of 
the new learning found expression. In Colet was typified 
the religious rationalism of the new movement; Erasmus 
reflected its more purely intellectual character; while in 
More, all its vigor and audacity of thought were brought to 
bear on the practical questions of the day. Utopia, More's 
most famous work, was a satire on the defects of English 
society veiled under a description of the condition of life 
in "Nowhere." More's views were strangely at odds with 
the tendencies of his age; but progress since his time has 
been mainly along the lines which he indicated. 

The promise of the Renaissance was overwhelmed before The 
it had reached its fulfilment by the fierce tide of religious Renaissance 

•^ ° and the 

revolution. Reason and reform were trampled under foot Reformation, 
by dogma and fanaticism. During the middle years of the 
century, the influence of the new learning was shown chiefly 
in the great attention given to education. The sons and 
daughters of the upper classes were carefully trained, and 
the founding of grammar schools^ under Henry VIII 



1 Over fifty grammar schools were established before the end of the 
reign of Henry VIII, and Edward VI endowed twenty more from the plun- 
der of the chantries. 



284 



England of the Tudors 



Green, 

pp. 401-404, 

422-438. 



and Edward VI testified to an increased interest in the 
education of the children of the middle class. 

The settlement of the religious question under Elizabeth 
left men free to consider other things, and the earlier 
revival of letters bore fruit in the wonderful outburst of 
literary activity which marked the close of the century. 
The vigor of the national lite was reflected in the origi- 
nality of thought, the boldness of conception, that charac- 
terized the world of letters. Its restless curiosity, the 
many-sidedness of its interests, found expression in a 
literature which included the Novum Oi'ganon of Bacon 
and the Ecclesiastical Polity of Hooker, Spenser's Faerie 
Qiieene, and Shakespeare's Hamlet. 




Timber House in the Corn Market, Worcester 

Britton, Picttiresque Antzguziies 



CHAPTER X 

THE PURITAN REVOLUTION 

Books for Consultation 

Sources 
Calendars of State Papers. 
Parliamentary History. 
Journals of the House of Commons. 
Laud, Diary. 
Strafford, Letters. 

Cromwell, Letters and Speeches (Carlyle). 
Clarendon, History of the Great Rebellion. 
Whitelock, Memorials. 
Ludlow, Memoirs. 

Hutchinson, Life of Colonel Hutchinson. 
Letters and Papers of the Verney Family. 
Prothero, Select Statutes. 
Gardiner, Constitzitional Documents of the Puritan Revolution. 

Special Authorities 
GQ.x6.mex, History of England from 1603-1642, History of the Great 

Civil War, History of the Commomvealth and Protectorate. 
Jenks, Constitutional Experiments of the Commomvealth. 
Hallam, Constitutional History of England. 
Forster, Sir John Eliot. 
Masson, Life of Milton. 
Hutton, Laud. 
Traill, Strafford. 
Goldwin Smith, Essays on Pym and Crom%vell (in Three English 

Statesmen^. 
Macaulay, Essay on Hampden. 
Arnold, M., Essay on Ealkland. 
Harrison, Oliver Cromwell. 
Gardiner, CromweWs Place in History. 

Imaginative Literature' 

Browning, Strafford. 

Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel, Woodstock. 

285 



286 



The Puritan Revolution 



Bright, II, 

581-584. 



James I (1603-1625). — Mary Stuart's son succeeded 
Elizabeth on the throne without dispute. The will of 
Henry VIII was quietly ignored. There was doubt as 
to the legitimacy of the heir to the crown in the Suffolk 
line; the Scotch king was a Protestant, his hereditary right 
was undoubted, the union of Scotland and England under 
one crown promised to put an end to the long-standing 
enmity between the two kingdoms. 

The accession of the house of Stuart -"^ marks the close of 
a century of personal rule based on public opinion, and 
the opening of a century of conflict for supremacy between 
crown and Parliament. England had acquiesced in the 
Tudor despotism, because in the royal power lay the only 
means for securing peace at home and for carrying on the 
struggle against Spain and the Papacy. Even after the 
danger was passed, habit and respect for Elizabeth still 
held in check the growing spirit of independence. But 
now the nation was ready and determined to take more 
active part in the control of affairs. 

James I came to the throne imbued with a belief in the 
Divine Right of kings, and he held exalted ideas of the 
royal prerogative. The great power of the Tudors, the cir- 
cumstances of his accession, the attitude of the party by 



1 James I, 1603-1625, m. Anne of Denmark 



Henry, Prince of 
Wales 



Charles I, m. Henrietta 
1625-1649 Maria of France 



Elizabeth, m. Frederick V, 
^ , I Elector 

Palatine 



Charles II, (nominally) 

1649-1660, 

(actually) 1660-1685, 

m. Catherine of 

Braganza 



i I Sophia 

Mary, m. James II, | 

William II, 1685-1689, George I, 

Prince of m. (i) Anne 1714-1727 

Orange Hyde; m. (2) INIary of 

I ' I Modena 



William III, m. INIary Anne, 
Prince of Or- II, 1689- 1702- 
ange, Kingof 1694 ^^7^4 

Great Britain 

and Ireland, 
1689-1702 



James 

(The Old 

Pretender) 

Charles Ed- 
ward (The 
Young Pre- 
tender) 



Prince 
Rupert 



James and the Religious Issue 



287 



Gardiner, 
Puiitan 
Revolution, 
p. 13. 



which he was surrounded, — all combined to strengthen 
him in a conception of the English kingship as something 
above the law. Moreover, he insisted, as the Tudors had 
never done, on a formal recognition of his claims. 

There was little in the Stuart king to make his preten- 
sions acceptable to the English people. He was of an 
alien and unpopular race. His undignified bearing was 
in sharp contrast to the royal carriage of his predecessor. 
His shrewd sense and rough wit could not make amends for 
the coarseness of his uncouth speech, and the national sense 
of decency was shocked by the grossness and unveiled 
immorality of his court. 

James and the Religious Issue. — The fundamental differ- Green, 
ences between the king and the people in respect to the pP' 471-474 
power of the crown were certain to cause trouble, but James 
precipitated the conflict by his treatment of the religious 
situation. 

Men were beginning to think for themselves in matters 
of conscience; they were no longer willing to change their 
beliefs at the dictation of the ruler. Deepening religious 
feeling meant increased difference of opinion. At the 
death of Elizabeth the royal supremacy and the ecclesias- 
tical hierarchy were accepted by the bulk of the nation, 
but within the Church two parties were becoming sharply 
defined. One, the High Church party, laid great stress Parties in 
upon Episcopacy and external forms. The other, the *^^ Church. 
Puritan party, which included a large part of the laity and 
many of the lower clergy, thought more of conduct than of 
church government, and desired greater simplicity of wor- 
ship. Nowhere was there a spirit of toleration. One 
church for all was the conception of the seventeenth cen- 
tury as it had been of preceding centuries. In Elizabeth's 
reign religious differences were silenced in the face of 
national danger, but now there was no moderating influence 
present among the people. 

The several parties looked forward to the coming of 
James with deep interest. Roman Catholics hoped for 



288 The Puritan Revolution 

better times under the son of Mary Stuart. The extreme 
Puritans saw in the Scotch king only the Presbyterian and 
remembered that he had called the English service but an 
"evil-said mass." 
Bright, II, Hampton Court Conference (1604). — On his way to Lon- 

587.5 9- (Jqjj ^j^g king was presented with a petition signed by 825 

Millenary of the clergy. The Millenary Petition, as it was called, 
Petition. represented the wishes of a large body of the most earnest 

and able men of the country. It asked nothing that was 
inconsistent with the Church as established, but it urged 
greater freedom in certain matters of worship, and the re- 
form of some recognized abuses. James showed the peti- 
tioners slight favor, but he called a conference of the 
leading divines of both parties to debate the situation in 
his presence. This apparent show of fairness was, however, 
belied by his bearing at the Hampton Court Conference, 
where he openly encouraged the bishops while browbeating 
the Puritans. It was plain that the royal influence would 
be on the side of the High Church party. 

James saw the religious question in the light of self- 
interest. He felt that equality in the Church would lead 
to equality in the State. He made the mistake of con- 
founding Puritanism with Presbyterianism, and he held that 
"A Presbytery agreeth as well with Monarchy as God and 
the Devil." On the other hand, he recognized the identity 
of interest between the hierarchy and the crown. "No 
bishop, no king," was his favorite maxim. The Hampton 
Court Conference was James's chance of acting as a medi- 
ator between two extreme parties, a part for which he was 
well fitted through his tolerant temper. He threw away 
this chance and allied himself with one small party. The 
new canons of 1604, excluding from their livings all clergy- 
men who questioned the complete accord of the Prayer 
Book with the Bible, was the answer to the demands of the 
Puritans. 

The Catholics. — Persecution of Romanists had relaxed, 
but their position was almost intolerable through insecurity 



James 1 and Parliament 



289 



?.nd the opportunities afforded for petty and personal an- 
noyance. At first James showed willingness to relax the 
severity of the laws, but in a short time need for consist- 
ency or desire to conciliate the Puritans led to a change. 
All priests were banished, and the fines for recusancy were 
rigorously exacted. The immediate result was the Gun- 
powder Plot (1605), a conspiracy formed by a few desperate 
men to blow up the Houses of Parliament and in the con- 
fusion that would follow to bring about a general rising. 
The plan, which was under the management of a soldier, 
Guy Fawkes, was discovered in time, and its only effect 
was to make toleration of the Catholics impossible for a 
century longer. 

James I and Parliament. — The Catholics, excluded from 
the House of Commons by the Test Act, resorted to con- 
spiracy, but the Puritans could show their dissatisfaction 
in more regular ways, and James soon found that he had 
roused a spirit which he could not control. Parliament 
met in 1604. Attendance at the opening of the session 
had never been so great, and it was estimated that three- 
fourths of the members were Puritans. The good under- 
standing which had always existed between Elizabeth and 
her Parliament was wanting from the start to her successor. 
James had aroused the jealousy of the Lower House by 
an ill-judged attempt to interfere in the elections. An 
address, called "A humble Form and Apology," was pre- 
pared by the Commons, but apparently never presented to 
the king, in which they declared that their privileges and 
liberties were theirs "by right and inheritance," and that 
their request to enjoy them was only "an act of manners." 
A determination was shown to grant no money until cer- 
tain abuses had been redressed. Purveyance and military 
tenures were attacked. The question of the new canons 
was taken up. The proposals of the Commons for settling 
the religious question reveal a sounder view of the situa- 
tion than was shown by the king or the bishops or the 
Hampton Court Puritans. They petitioned against the 
u 



Gardiner, 
Puritan 
Revolution, 
pp. 20-23. 



Gunpowder 
Plot, 1605. 



Green, 

pp. 475-478. 



Prothero, 
Select 
Statutes, 
p. 286. 



290 



The Puritan Revolution 



Gardiner, 
Puritan 
Revolution, 
pp. 17-20. 



practical abuse of an illiterate and non-resident ministry, 
and they asked that it might be held sufficient for the 
clergy to subscribe to the doctrine of Royal Supremacy 
and to the thirty-nine Articles (p. 256), and that no man 
should be deprived of his living for objecting to the 
surplice or to the use of the cross in baptism. They 




Northwest View of Hatfield House 

Built for Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, between 1603 and 1611 



would have made the Church broad enough to include 
others than the High Church party. 

This first year was typical of the whole reign. James 
had no liking for Parliament; he showed neither dignity 
nor tact in his dealings with it. He wished to free him- 
self from its control, but from the outset he was hampered 
by need for money. Elizabeth had accustomed the nation 
to light taxes, and Parliament was not disposed to give 
generously. It met each request for aid with a demand for 
redress of grievances. To fill his empty treasury without 



Rtde of Favorites 291 

appealing to Parliament James had recourse to many ques- 
tionable expedients. Additional customs or impositions impositions, 
were levied by royal proclamation. The Commons pro- 
tested vigorously, but in 1606 the case of Bates, a merchant 
who had refused to pay the new customs, was decided in 
favor of the crown. Acting upon this decision, James 
issued a Book of Rates, by which all the customs were 
considerably increased. Commerce was growing rapidly 
and the revenue seemed assured, but the king was extrava- 
gant, and in 16 10 it again became necessary to appeal 
to Parliament for supplies. An attempt made by Cecil ^ to 
arrange a bargain by which James agreed to abandon the 
ancient feudal tenure of land with its exasperating claims 
in return for a regular grant ended in failure, and Parlia- 
ment was dissolved. 

The Addled Parliament. — In 1614 the royal straits for 
money were so great that a new Parliament was called, but 
the House of Commons, which included among its mem- 
bers Eliot and Wentworth and Pym, leaders in the struggle 
that was soon to break out, fell at once to discussing 
the question of impositions. James dissolved Parliament 
in anger before anything had been accomplished. 

Rule of Favorites. — For seven years, from 1614 to 162 1, Green, 
James ruled without Parliament. Elizabeth had surrounded PP- 478-480. 
herself with statesmen, but after the death of Cecil in 161 2 
James took counsel chiefly with his favorites. The first of 
these was Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, a courtier who 
had nothing to recommend him except his beauty and grace 
of manners. He was displaced by another intimate, George 
Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who with no greater claims Buckingham. 
to statesmanship exercised until his death a controlling 
voice in the conduct of affairs. 

Year by year the breach between James and his subjects 
widened. There was general indignation at the profligacy 
and extravagance of the court, and the king's absolute 

1 Robert Cecil, son of Elizabeth's great minister, Lord Burleigh, was 
James' chief adviser during the first years of his reign. 



292 The Puritan Revolution 

methods gave frequent occasion for protest. Royal procla- 
mations having the force of law were issued in large num- 
bers. Monopolies, abandoned in the preceding reign, were 
again granted. Irregular means of raising supplies were 
employed. Peerages were sold, ancient feudal dues were re- 
vived, loans and benevolences were exacted. Blind to the 
effect of these measures upon the people, James boldly 
asserted his views of the royal power. " As for the absolute 
prerogative of the Crown," he declared in a speech in the 
Star Chamber in 1616, "that is no subject for the tongue of 
a lawyer, nor is it lawful to be disputed. It is atheism and 
blasphemy to dispute what God can do; good Christians 
content themselves with His will revealed in His Word; 
so it is presumption and high contempt in a subject to dis- 
pute what a king can do, or say that a king cannot do this 
or that; but rest in that which is the king's will revealed 
in his law." 
Green, The Spanish Alliance. — The home and foreign policy of 

pp. 480-482. James I were closely connected. His efforts to free himself 
from parliamentary control could be successful only so long 
as he kept out of war. During the first nine years of the 
reign, England's foreign relations were guided by Cecil in 
accordance with the traditions of Elizabeth's reign. The 
war with Spain was brought to an end. Through the 
combined efforts of the English minister and the French 
king the independence of the Dutch was virtually secured. 
James's eldest daughter Elizabeth was married to a Protes- 
tant prince of Germany, the Elector Palatine. A plan 
for an alliance between Prince Henry and a daughter of 
Henry IV of France was frustrated by the untimely death 
of the young prince. After 16 12 James was free to follow 
out his own views. He was attracted by the idea of a 
Spanish alliance, and while Cecil was still alive he had 
proposed to marry Prince Charles to the Spanish Infanta. 
The king looked with admiration upon the absolutism of 
the Spanish monarchs, and he hoped in union with Spain 
to dictate peace to Europe. There was much to be said 




Sir Walter Raleigh 




294 



The Ptiritan Revolution 



Gardiner, 
Puritan 
Revolution, 
pp. 29-31. 



Green, 

pp. 482-484. 



1621. 



Gardiner, 
Puritan 
Revolution, 
PP- 31-39- 



in favor of these views. England needed peace, Spain was 
no longer a menace to her safety, and the commercial hos- 
tility of the two countries could be better settled by treaty 
than by war. But his policy was impracticable. The 
traditional enmity to Spain was still strong, and a Spanish 
alliance would mean toleration of the Catholics in England. 
Nevertheless James persisted in his plans. -^ 

The Thirty Years' War greatly increased the difficulties 
of the situation. In 16 18 the long-impending struggle 
between Catholics and Protestants broke out in Germany. 
James's own son-in-law, the Elector Palatine, was involved, 
and it was impossible for England to stand aloof. The 
king still clung to the idea of an alliance with Spain, and 




Signature of Francis, Lord Bacon 

strove to play the part of peacemaker, but the nation de- 
tested the Spanish connection and was anxious for war 
in the interests of Protestantism. 

Parliament and the Spanish Policy. — In 1620 a Spanish 
army invaded the Palatinate, and James, eager to aid his 
kinsman, summoned Parliament to obtain supplies. The 
Commons came together hot for war, but when they found 
that the king was still bent on negotiating, they voted 
two subsidies only and turned fiercely upon the grievances 
that had been accumulating during the past seven years. 
Monopolies were attacked, and James was forced to give 
up the right of granting them. The long-disused weapon 

1 As a concession to Spain, Sir Walter Raleigh, last of the great captains 
of Elizabeth's reign, was executed (1618) for his share in the attack upon a 
Spanish colony on the Orinoco. 







Charles I 



Charles I 



295 



of impeachment was revived against the royal ministers. 
Lord Bacon, the chancellor, was impeached and condemned 
to severe punishment for taking bribes. The feeling against 
him was due in part to his systematic support of the royal 
prerogative. Protests were made against the Catholic alli- 
ance, and war with Spain was demanded. The temper of 
the Commons was rising, and a message from the king 
forbidding all consideration of foreign affairs was met by a 
strong declaration that the discussion of all affairs of State 
was within the province of Parliament. James, with his 
own hand, tore the Protestation from the Journals of the 
House. "I will govern according to the common weal, 
but not according to the common will," he declared, and 
ordered the dissolution of Parliament. 

More than ever bent on bringing about a close alliance 
with Spain, the king permitted Prince Charles and Buck- 
ingham to undertake a romantic journey to Madrid to woo 
the young Infanta. The religious difficulties were too 
great to be overcome, and in a few months Charles and 
Buckingham were back in England, piqued at their failure, 
and eager for war with Spain. At once all was changed. 
Negotiations were set on foot for marrying Charles to a 
French princess. Parliament was again summoned, and 
preparations for war were pushed forward. At this juncture 
the old king died. In twenty years James had turned re- 
spect for the monarchy into contempt, and loyalty into 
hatred. He had insulted Parliament and asserted his 
authority as no Tudor had ever done, but in spite of his 
arbitrary methods, rather because of them, the constitu- 
tional gains of this reign outweighed all that had been 
achieved since the fall of the house of Lancaster. 

Charles I (162 5-1 649). — Much was expected from the 
accession of Charles. The dignity of the young king's 
bearing and the decorum of his life had created a favorable 
impression, and his known hostility to the Spanish alliance 
aroused hopes of a more popular policy. But Charles was 
even less fitted than his father to rule the English people. 



Impeach- 
ment of 
Bacon, 1621. 



Protestation, 
1621. 

Prothero, 
Select 
Statutes. 
P- 313- 



Green, 
p. 485. 



War with 
Spain, 1624. 



296 



The Puritan Revolution 



Green, 

pp. 485-487- 



Gardiner, 
Puritan 
Revolution, 
pp. 48-50. 



Expedition 
to Cadiz. 



He was narrow and obstinate. While believing as strongly 
as did James in the royal prerogative, he had even less 
comprehension of the popular temper. From first to last 
he showed himself incapable of understanding the condi- 
tions with which he had to deal. 

The enthusiasm which greeted the new monarch soon 
cooled. It became plain that Charles's opposition to Spain 
was the result of pique and did not imply an essential 
change of policy. Although the terms of the French mar- 
riage treaty^ were not known at first, the mere fact of this 
alliance with a Catholic princess, coupled with greater 
leniency toward the English Catholics, aroused fears of a 
reaction. Moreover, the continued influence of Bucking- 
ham gave little hope of more capable action abroad or 
more constitutional rule at home. 

Misgovernment of Charles and Buckingham. — The king 
met his first Parliament with a demand for money to carry 
on the war with Spain, but the Commons voted only a 
small part of what was desired and for the first time in two 
centuries refused the grant of tonnage and poundage for 
life. The rigid execution of the law against the Catholics 
was demanded, and the king was asked tb surround him- 
self with counsellors in whom the people could confide. 
Hopeless of obtaining the necessary supplies, Charles 
dissolved Parliament. 

For a few months the king and Buckingham struggled 
along, raising money in irregular ways and endeavoring to 
win popularity by pushing forward the war with Spain. 
But an expedition to Cadiz ended in disaster through the 



duke's mismanagement, 



and in 1626 the king's necessities 



forced him to summon a new Parliament. In the hope of 
weakening the opposition, Charles had caused the most 
prominent members of the last House of Commons to be 



1 By the marriage treaty freedom of worship and the custody of he- 
children till the age of ten were secured to the queen. Cliarles also agrec^ 
to a suspension of Roman Catholic disabilities, although he had promisei^ 
Parliament to do nothing of the kind. 



Quarrel between King and Parliament 297 



appointed sheriffs, thus preventing their return. The Com- 
mons, however, found an able and fearless leader in Sir 
John Eliot and at once took up the discussion of griev- 
ances. Buckingham was looked upon as the cause of all 
difficulties, and the Commons, despite the command of the 
king, urged forward his impeachment. To save his friend, 
Charles again dissolved Parliament, and for the next two 
years he strove to get on without the legislative assembly. 

Arbitrary Acts. — During the interval the relations be- 
tween Charles and his subjects grew steadily worse. To 
raise money to carry on the government, the king resorted to 
arbitrary measures. A forced loan was demanded. Poor 
men who refused to pay were driven into the army; rich 
men were thrown into prison. Five of the men thus pun- 
ished determined to test the legality of the action of the 
government and sued out a writ of Habeas Corpus. The 
point at issue was the power of the crown to imprison with- 
out showing cause, and the decision of the judges was in the 
king's favor. Many things combined to arouse popular fear 
and indignation. The arbitrary tendencies of that party in 
the Church which was favored by the crown were becoming 
more manifest. It was declared from the pulpit that " the 
king is not bound to observe the laws of the realm concern- 
ing the subject's rights and liberties, but that his royal will 
and command in imposing loans and taxes without common 
consent in Parliament doth oblige the subject's conscience 
on pain of eternal damnation." Fears of a Catholic reac- 
tion were aroused by the apparent leaning of the court 
toward Rome. Moreover, foreign affairs were hopelessly 
mismanaged. The Palatinate was lost, and by 1627 Buck- 
ingham succeeded in involving England in a war with 
France. An expedition to the Isle of Rh6 for the relief 
of the Huguenots, now in rebellion, ended in complete 
disaster. 

Quarrel between the King and Parliament. — Need for 
money forced Charles to summon a new Parliament in 
1628. The Houses met in no conciliatory temper and, 



Attack on 
Buckingham. 

Green, 

pp. 487-490- 



Green, 

pp. 490, 491, 



Forced loan. 



Arbitrary 
imprison- 
ment. 



War with 
Fi-ance, 1627. 



298 



The Puritan Revolution 



Green, 

pp. 491-493- 
Gardiner, 
Puritan 
Revolution , 
PP- 57-63- 



instead of voting supplies, proceeded at once to discuss 
the condition of the country. All men were stirred by the 
recent attacks on personal rights. "We must vindicate 
our ancient liberties," said Sir Thomas Wentworth, "we 
must reenforce the laws made by our ancestors. We must 
set such a stamp upon them as no licentious spirit shall 
dare hereafter to invade them." He moved that "griev- 
ances and supplies should go hand in hand," and under his 




Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford 

After the painting by Van Dyck 



The Petition 
of Right, 
Old South 
Leaflets, 
No. 23. 



leadership the Commons drew up the Petition of Right, a 
statement of privilege second only to the Great Charter in 
constitutional importance. It declared that no man should 
be forced to pay loan, benevolence, or tax without the con- 
sent of Parliament; that no subject should be imprisoned 
without stated charge; that soldiers should not be billeted 
upon the people against their will; and that martial law 
should not be enforced in time of peace. At first Charles 
gave an evasive answer to the Commons' demands, but he 



The Commons and the Religious Question 299 



was finally forced to yield consent, and the Petition of 
Right became part of the law of England. 

The granting of the Petition did not secure harmony 
between the king and Parliament. Before the end of the 
session a new question arose. Although the grant of ton- 
nage and poundage, even for a year, had never been 
completed, Charles had levied the duties ever since his 
accession. The Commons now contended that the Peti- 
tion of Right made such action illegal, but the king main- 
tained that customs were not covered by the words of the 
Petition. The question was still unsettled when Charles, 
to avert an attack upon Buckingham, prorogued Parliament. 

Assassination of Buckingham. — Before Parliament met 
again, the favorite had fallen by the hand of an assassin.^ 
Buckingham's death was received with general rejoicing, 
but it brought no improvement in the situation; it only 
laid bare the gulf that divided the king and the nation. 
The powerful duke had borne the brunt of popular dissatis- 
faction; it was now no longer possible to deny the king's 
responsibility for the policy of the government. 

The Commons and the Religious Question. — The matter 
of tonnage and poundage might have been compromised if 
it had stood alone, but the chance of an harmonious settle- 
ment was greatly diminished by growing religious differ- 
ences. The country gentry, the most numerous element 
in the House of Commons, was at this time Protestant and 
Calvinistic in feeling. But among the clergy of the High 
Church party there was a tendency to break away from the 
sterner dogmas of Calvin. The ecclesiastical party favored 
by the court was thus brought into conflict with the House of 
Commons, both through its theological beliefs and through 
its political opinions. The Commons showed themselves 
as hostile to the one as to the other. One clergyman was 
impeached for attacking the doctrine of predestination, 
another for upholding from the pulpit such views as that 

1 An officer named Felton, who was embittered by failure to obtain 
employment. 



Adams, 
Representa- 
tive British 
Orations, I. 



Green, 

pp. 493-495- 
Gardiner, 
Puritan 
Revolution, 
pp. 63-69. 



;oo 



TJie Puritan Revolution 



The three 
resolutions. 



Green, 

pp. 504, 505, 

Gardiner, 

Puritan 

Revolution, 

PP- 69-75- 



"the king is not bound to observe the laws of the reahii 
concerning the subject's rights and liberties." 

Fear and doubt steadily increased during the autumn. 
Charles's persistency in the matter of tonnage and pound- 
age, the favor sho.vn to Catholics, the promotion of Laud 
(the leader of the High Church party) to the bishopric of 
London, the besto val of important preferments upon Mon- 
tague and Manwaring (the clergymen censured by Parlia- 
ment), all seemed to point to a systematic attack upon the 
Church and the Constitution. 

When Parliament reassembled early in 1629 the storm 
broke loose. The question of religion was at once taken 
up by the Commons under the leadership of Sir John Eliot. 
On the 2d of ]\Iarch the debate was suddenly interrupted 
by an order to adjourn. A scene of great excitement fol- 
lowed. The Speaker was held down in his chair so that 
he could not announce the adjournment, while Eliot read 
three resolutions declaring that any one who introduced 
innovations in religion or advised the levying of tonnage 
or poundage without a grant by Parliament or voluntarily 
paid such duties should be regarded as an enemy to the 
kingdom and a betrayer of the liberties of England. The 
resolutions were adopted with shouts of " Aye, aye." Charles 
at once ordered a dissolution, and for eleven years no Par- 
liament was called. 

Personal Government. — The dissolution of Parliament 
was followed by a period of personal rule. In a public 
proclamation Charles declared that "we have showed by 
our frequent meeting our people our love to the use of' 
Parliament; yet the late abuse having for the present driven 
us unwittingly out of that course, we shall account it pre- 
sumption for any to prescribe any time with us for Parlia- 
ment." 

The first years of absolutism were quiet and untroubled. 
The government was carried on by ministers, who were the 
irresponsible agents of the royal will. The leaders of the 
opposition in the last House of Commons were imprisoned 



Wentworth in Irela7id 



;oi 



and charged before the King's Bench with riot and sedition. 
Eliot refused to plead, denying the jurisdiction of the 
court over things done in Parliament, and he died in prison 
(1632), a martyr to the cause of representative government. 
Peace was made with France in 1629, and with Spain in 
1630. The collection of the customs w^as continued and 
resistance gradually died out. Through the agency of the 
court of the Star Chamber the king's opponents were crushed 
or silenced. Sir Thomas Wentworth, the author of the 
Petition of Right, w^as won over to the side of absolutism. 
Political conviction combined with personal ambition had 
led Wentworth to forsake the popular cause. His opposi- 
tion had been directed against the influence of Buckingham 
rather than against the power of the crown. He saw all 
the defects of the parliamentary system and none of its 
good points. His ideal was a monarchy of the Tudor type 
with a patriotic minister behind the throne. Charles 
realized the value of such a servant. Wentworth w^as raised 
to the peerage in 1629 and made President of the Council 
of the North. In 1633 he was appointed Lord Deputy of 
Ireland. 

Wentworth in Ireland. — Since the overthrow of Tyrone 
the Irish had remained quiet. The policy of coloniza- 
tion, how^ever, was continued, and under James I large 
tracts of the best lands of Ulster were confiscated on 
slight pretexts and planted with Scotch and English 
settlers. As many of these w^ere Puritans, a new element 
of discord was introduced. When Wentworth arrived 
in Ireland he at once went to work to organize the gov- 
ernment in the royal interest and created an army chiefly 
of Irish Catholics. On the understanding that the king 
would concede certain favors for which the Irish Parlia- 
ment had petitioned, he procured a large grant of money. 
The supplies once voted, however, Wentworth did not 
hesitate to advise Charles to withhold the promised con- 
cessions. Uniformity was rigorously enforced, although 
ninety-nine out of every hundred among the Irish were of 



Wentworth. 
Green, 

PP- 507-509- 
Gardiner, 
Purifafi 
RevoIutio?i, 
pp. 76, 77. 



Gardiner, 
Puritan 
Revolution, 
pp. 97-102. 



Green, 
pp. 509-511- 



302 



The Puritan Revolution 



the Catholic faith. So well did Wentworth take his meas- 
ures that in 1636 he could write to Laud, "The king is 
now as absolute here as any prince in the world can be." 
Although his rule was a rule of terror, he nevertheless did 
something to improve the material condition of the country. 




William Laud 

From a portrait engraved for the Universal MagJ^zine 

Good laws were passed, the flax industry was fostered, and 
trade developed. On the other hand, the fears of the Irish 
for their lands were kept alive by a proposal to plant 
Connaught with English settlers, and race and religious 
antagonisms were intensified by Wentworth 's policy of 
governing through a balance of parties. 



Financial Schemes 303 

Laud and the Church. — In ecclesiastical matters the Green, 
king's chief adviser was Laud, Bishop of London, later PP- 498-503. 
Archbishop of Canterbury. Unity through uniformity was 
Laud's policy, and the canons of the Church were his 
standard. In matters of doctrine he was tolerant, but he Gardiner, 
insisted on conformity in externals. Laud was determined ^^^^^^^ 

■' Aevolutio?i, 

to force one system on the country, and he showed no pp. 75, 76, 78, 
mercy to the Puritan clergy. All who refused exact con- 85-90, 94-97. 
formity in matters of worship were suspended or deprived. 
At the same time he seemed to be drawing the Church nearer 
to Rome. Increasing stress was laid upon ceremonial, the 
authority of the bishops was exalted, language was used 
which showed a desire for reconciliation with the ancient 
Church. 

By this course Laud set himself in sharp opposition to 
the prevailing sentiments of the nation. His rigid system 
made no allowance for the deepening religious feeling of 
the people, now as never before a Bible-reading people.^ Old South 
Disapproval of the principles of the High Church party Leaflets, 
was not confined to extreme Puritans now that men were Train, in 
forced to see in that party the strongest supporters of the 193-196. 
royal prerogative. The struggle going on in Germany had 
tended to intensify the Protestantism of England, and fears 
of a Catholic reaction could not fail to arouse even the 
most moderate. As yet, however. Laud met with little re- 
sistance in enforcing his measures. The court of High 
Commission and the Star Chamber were active in sup- 
pressing open disaffection, and many of the more deter- 
mined Puritans left the country to seek a home in the 
new commonwealth beyond the sea. 

Financial Schemes. — Charles's chief difficulty was to Green, 
obtain money without the aid of Parliament. New ex- PP' S05-507. 
pedients were devised for raising a revenue. Exorbitant 

1 In 1611 a new translation of the Bible, known as the Authorized 
Version of King James, was published. It was the work of Puritan and 
High Church divines, and was the most satisfactory outcome of the 
Hampton Court Conference, where the plan was first proposed. 



304 



The Puritan Revolution 



Gardiner, 
Puritan 
Revolution, 
pp. 90-94. 



Ship-money. 



Hampden. 



Old South 
Leaflets, 
No. 60. 



fines were exacted for all kinds of petty offences. Compo- 
sition for knighthood was enforced after a century's disuse.^ 
By reviving obsolete laws the bounds of the royal forests 
were greatly extended,'^ and those whose lands lay within 
the new limits had to pay fines to secure their titles. The 
legislation of James's reign had not touched the power 
of the crown to establish corporations with the rigat of 
monopoly, and the sale of monopolies was carried on to 
an unheard-of extent. 

In view of the maritime ascendency of France and Hol- 
land, Charles not unnaturally desired to strengthen the 
English fleet. He determined to make use of ancient cus- 
tom, and in 1634 issued writs to the port towns requiring 
them to furnish ships. In the following year, the inland 
counties were included in the demand. In both cases the 
king managed to obtain not ships but money, which he 
devoted to building up a navy entirely under his control. 
Year after year the levy of ship-money continued. Popular 
dissatisfaction arose, not because the king had a navy, but 
because the tax was raised without a parliamentary grant. 
As yet the fund was employed according to the avowed 
intention, but the principle involved was so capable of 
extension that Wentworth said of it : " Let the king only 
abstain from war for three years that he may habituate his 
subjects to the payment of this tax, and in the end he will 
find himself more powerful and respected than any of his 
predecessors." "^ 

The nation saw this as clearly as did Wentworth. John 
Hampden, a gentleman of Buckinghamshire, undertook to 
bring the question of the legality of ship-money before the 
courts by refusing to pay his tax. But the judges were the 
tools of the king, and the decision was in favor of the royal 
prerogative. One judge asserted that rex was lex, and 

1 By a law of Edward I, all owners of land worth £^o a year were obliged 
to receive knighthood, paying large fees for the honor, or else incur a heavy 
fine. 

2 The limits of the Forest of Rockingham were enlarged from six- to 
sixty miles. 



Quarrel with Scotland 



305 



Chief Justice Finch declared that "they are void Acts of 
Parliament to bind the king not to command the subjects, 
their persons and goods, and I say their money too, for no 
Acts of Parliament make any difference." It was vain to 
look for justice in courts guided not by the law but by the 
will of the king. 

The decision of the judges in the ship-money case 
showed all thinking men the peril of the situation. Never- 




Hampden 

After a print by J. Houbraken, 1740 

theless action did not at once follow; no leader had ap- 
peared; in the intermission of Parliament the national 
temper was in doubt, and many of the bolder spirits, de- 
spairing of improvement, left England to seek a home and 
freedom in America. But the blind self-will of the king 
was hastening the crisis. 

Quarrel with Scotland. — The signal for revolt came from Gardiner, 
Scotland. The vigorous Presbyterianism of the northern '^^^^^I'^^n^,, 
kingdom had not been able to hinder the reestablishment pp. 102-10^ 



3o6 



The Puritan Revolution 



The new 

service 

book. 



Gardiner, 
Puritan- 
Revolution, 
pp. 108-110. 

Adams, 
Representa- 
tive British 
Orations, 
vol. I. 



of Episcopacy under James, but the feeling of the people 
was openly hostile and suspicious. Undismayed, Charles 
and Laud determined to force upon the Scots a new church 
service, modelled upon the English Prayer Book. National 
pride as well as religious feeling was offended at this inno- 
vation from England. The first attempt to use the new 
liturgy met with an opposition which soon grew into re- 
bellion against the political as well as the ecclesiastical 
authority of the king. The covenant of 1557 was renewed. 
A free Parliament, a general assembly, and the abolition of 
the obnoxious ecclesiastical innovations were demanded. 
For the moment Charles yielded, but only to gain time to 
gather together an army. He dared not draw back for fear 
of the effect in England. In 1639 the war broke out, and 
the advantage was all on the side of the Covenanters. With- 
out the support of Parliament it was evident that Charles 
could not hold his own against a united, determined Scot- 
land. By the advice of Wentworth, who had returned from 
Ireland and become for the first time the chief counsellor 
of the king, the policy of the last eleven years was aban- 
doned, and a Parliament was summoned. 

The Short Parliament. — The Parliament called for May, 
1640, met in no unreasonable temper, but it was soon plain 
that grievances must be redressed before aid would be 
granted. Charles offered to give up ship-money in return 
for supplies, but the Commons hesitated and showed signs 
of opposition to the war with Scotland. Money, not debate, 
was what Charles wanted, and against the advice of Went- 
worth, now Earl of Strafford, he dissolved Parliament after 
a session of little more than three weeks. 

During the summer the king's difficulties increased; 
since he could not pay the army that he had gathered to- 
gether, the soldiers mutinied and refused to fight. The 
Scots invaded Durham and Northumberland. Finally, by 
the advice of a Council of Peers called at York, Charles 
entered into negotiations with the Scots, and at the s^nie 
time issued writs for a new Parliament. 



Meeting of tJie Long Parliament 



30; 



The Meeting of the Long Parliament. — In November 
the Long Parliament of the Rebellion, the most famous 
Parliament in English history, met at Westminster. The 
king was at its mercy; without money he could neither 
wage war against the Scots nor treat with them to advantage. 
Supported by popular feeling and by the menace of invasion 
from Scotland, the Commons realized that their opportunity 
had come, and, in the words of John Pym, they felt that 
"to remove all griev- 
ances they must pull up 
the causes of them by 
the roots." 

A determination to 
bring the king's minis- 
ters to justice became at 
once apparent. ' Straf- 
ford was the first object 
of attack. Under the 
leadership of Pym, from 
the outset the ruling 
spirit in the Lower 
House, the Commons 
proceeded to his im- 
peachment. Strafford 
was charged with hav- 
ing established arbi- 
trary rule in Ireland 
and with attempting to 
overthrow the liberties of England. In March, 164 1, his 
trial was opened in Westminster Hall. Under the exist- 
ing laws of treason, conviction seemed impossible, and 
accordingly for the impeachment was substituted a Bill 
of Attainder. Even yet Strafford might have been saved 
had not the discovery of a royal plot to overwhelm Parlia- 
ment with the army from the north convinced the peers 
that the man whom all regarded as the mainstay of the 
royal despotism could not safely be allowed to live. The 




John Pym 

After a painting by Robert Walker 



Green, 

PP- 521-527- 
Gardiner, 
Puritan 
Revolution, 
pp. 110-118. 



Impeach- 
ment of 
Strafford. 

Old South 
Leaflets, 
No. 61. 



3o8 



The Puritan RevohUion 



Laud, 

imprisoned, 

1640, 

executed, 

1645. 



Root and 
Branch Bill. 



attainder was carried with little opposition in either 
House and received the royal signature (May 10, 1641), 
although Charles but a few days before had assured the 
earl that he should not suffer in "life, honor, or fortune." 
Strafford paid the penalty of being behind his generation, 
of attempting to restore a constitution which the nation 
had outgrown. 

The attack upon Strafford was accompanied by legisla- 
tion limiting the royal prerogative. The courts of the Star 
Chamber and High Commission were abolished, ship-money 
was declared illegal, the power of the crown to levy tonnage 
and poundage or other impositions was denied, and a 
Triennial Bill was passed requiring the election of a new 
House of Commons once in three years. At the same time 
Charles was forced to give his assent to a bill declaring that 
the present Parliament could not be dissolved without its 
own consent. 

The Church Question. — In passing these measures Par- 
liament had worked with great unanimity, but when the 
religious question was taken up, division at once appeared. 
Hostility to Laud and to Laud's innovations was general, 
and there was a widespread desire to limit the power of the 
bishops, but beyond this point there was great difference 
of opinion. Some supported a modified Episcopacy, others 
wished to introduce the Presbyterian system, a few tended 
to the Separatist idea of independent congregations. A 
compromise proposition excluding the bishops from Par- 
liament was passed by the Commons, but was thrown out in 
the House of Lords. This led at once to the introduction 
of a more extreme measure, called the Root and Branch 
Bill, "for the utter abolition" of Episcopacy. Over the 
Church question the Commons divided. There were now 
two parties, one upholding Episcopacy, the other bent 
upon such changes as would render the tyranny of the 
bishops impossible for the future. In September Parlia- 
ment adjourned. Of the measures passed, all except the 
compulsory clauses of the Triennial Bill became a part of 



Insurrection of the Irish Catholics 309 

the permanent constitution. With this first session the 
work of reform was done; henceforth Parliament was to act 
rather as a committee of safety than as a legislative body. 

The Insurrection of the Irish Catholics. — Before the 
adjournment of Parliament the king had set out for Scot- 
land, in the secret hope of obtaining an army from the Scots 
which he might use against his opponents. Charles still Charles in 
hoped to preserve his prerogative undiminished. While 
apparently acquiescing in the action of Parliament, he was 
secretly planning to undo all that had been accomplished. 
It was the conviction of this that instigated the extreme 
demands of the Commons. The great obstacle in the way 
of a satisfactory and conservative settlement of the govern- 
ment was the lack of confidence in the king's sincerity. 

While Charles was still in the north endeavoring to win Gardiner, 
over the Scots by conceding all their demands, news arrived ^ll^o^ution 
from Ireland which greatly lessened the chance of a good pp. 119, 120. 
understanding between the king and Parliament. For some 
months Charles had dallied with proposals of the Irish 
Catholic lords to send him help in return for permission to 
overturn the Dublin government. Nothing had been set- 
tled when Charles went to Scotland in August. The Irish 
people, maddened by the accumulated wrongs of two gen- 
erations, impatient of delay, and terrified at the prospect 
of falling into the hands of a Puritan Parliament, took mat- 
ters into their own hands. On the 23d of October, 1641, 
the natives of Ulster rose against the English and Scotch 
settlers. The rebellion spread to other parts of the island. 
It was a war of Catholic against Protestant, of Celt against 
Saxon, of the evicted against the usurper. Terrible atroci- 
ties were committed. Some thousands of the aliens were 
slaughtered, women and children perishing with the men. 
A cry for vengeance was raised in England. In the excited 
state of feeling there were many who accused Charles of 
having instigated the rising. Of this he may be acquitted, 
but not of the responsibility for having aroused an out- 
raged people whose furious vengeance he could not control. 



3IO 



The Puritan Revolution 



Old South 
Leaflets, 
No. 24. 
Gardiner, 
Puritan 
Revolution, 
p. 121. 
Green, 

PP- 527-533- 



Gardiner, 
Puritan 
Revolution, 
pp. 122-124. 



Attack on 
the five 
members. 




Signature of Pym 



The Grand Remonstrance. — The outbreak in Ireland 
raised a new difficulty. An army would be necessary to 
put down the rebellion. Could the king be trusted with 
forces, which he might turn against Parliament? Pym and 
Hampden answered, No. Under their influence the Grand 
Remonstrance, a statement of grievances, a programme for 
the future, an appeal to the nation, was forced through 
Parliament. This was the critical moment. Failure to 

pass the Grand Remonstrance 
f /-^ / would have meant the aban- 

/^y1\.^ donment of the struggle by 
^ / many patriots. "If the Re- 

monstrance had been re- 
jected," said Oliver Cromwell, 
member for Cambridge, " I would have sold all I had, and 
never have seen England any more." Success completed 
the division of the nation into two factions. Lack of 
confidence in the king had forced men to extreme meas- 
ures. The violence of the opposition now led to the 
formation of a royal party. 

This was Charles's opportunity. By allying himself 
frankly with the moderates, he might have won a majority 
in the Commons to his side. But he still hoped to avoid 
damaging concessions. In November, 1641, the king 
issued a declaration affirming his loyalty to the Church, 
and called Hyde and Falkland, leaders of the moderates, 
to his counsels, but other measures showed a determination 
to resort to force. Excitement was growing both in Parlia- 
ment and in the country. Brawls between the supporters 
of the king and the Parliament's men occurred daily in 
the streets of London.-^ The Commons pushed forward a 
bill to exclude the bishops and the Catholic peers from the 
House of Lords. Charles now determined on a bold step. 
He caused five of the leaders of the Commons, including 
Pym and Hampden, to be impeached on the charge of 



1 It was now that the nicknames of " Roundhead " and " Cavalier " were 
first heard. 



The Civil War 



311 



treason. That they might not escape, he resolved to have 
them arrested in their places in the House. He was urged 
to this step by the queen, his faithful supporter and his 
evil genius. The attempt failed, but it made complete the 
breach between the king and Parliament. The struggle 
that now followed as to the command of the militia showed 
that both sides looked forward to a settlement by force. 
But Charles had already left London, not to return until 
brought back a prisoner. 

The Civil War. — The early months of 1642 were spent 
by both parties in making preparations for war. The queen, 
taking with her the crown jewels, went to Holland to raise 
money. Parliament voted supplies and called out the 
militia. Charles issued a commission of array. ^ The 
country ranged itself on one side or the other, as con- 
viction or interest dictated. With the king were most of 
the great nobles, many of the gentry, and the peasants. 
The Catholics and the High Church party were also on 
his side. A few of the nobles, the bulk of the lesser gentry, 
the yeomanry, London, and the towns generally, rallied 
to Parliament. As a whole the backward portions of the 
country, the north and the west, were Royalist, while the 
eastern counties, the most advanced part of England, were 
strong for Parliament. 

Both parties were hampered by financial difficulties, but 
in this respect Parliament was in a better position than the 
king. As nominally representative of the nation in matters 
of taxation it controlled the regular ways of raising money. 
Besides, it had the support of London and the, moneyed 
classes generally. Charles was forced to depend upon the 
generosity of his followers, and their devotion was un- 
bounded. Plate, jewels, everything that could be turned 
into money, was put at the king's service by the Royalist 
nobles. 

On the 23d of August the royal standard was raised at 

1 Mandates sent to trustworthy persons to raise troops in the king's 
name. 



Gardiner, 
Puritan 
Revolution, 
pp. 125-128, 
130. 131. 
Division of 
the nation. 



Green, 

PP- 533-535- 



EKGLAKD — 

ANT> WALES 

THE CIVIL WARS 
OF THE 17TH CENTURY 




6 West 4 



3 Longitude 2 from 1 Greenwich East 1^ 



BCRMAV & CO., I.NuII'&, N.Y. 



Oliver Cromwell 313 

Nottingham, and the war formally opened. The Earl of 
Essex was put in command of the Parliamentary forces. On 
the Royalist side the leader was Prince Rupert, the king's 
nephew. The first battle of the war was fought at Edgehill, 
and the royal forces had the advantage. During the next 
two years there was fighting all over England, the important 
centres of action being in Yorkshire and the west, around 
Oxford, where the king made his headquarters, and Lon- 
don, where the Parliament was in continued session. But 
the war dragged. Neither side desired too complete a 
victory. Many among Charles's supporters feared that he 
would use success to reestablish abuses that had been over- 
thrown. Some on the opposite side saw in the removal of 
all restraints danger of a Parliamentary tyranny which they 
dreaded as much as royal despotism. On the whole, suc- 
cess was with the king. He had better generals, and his 
cavalry, the most important and most efficient arm of the 
service, was boldly if not always wisely led by Prince 
Rupert. The Parliamentary levies were largely composed 
of the rabble of the towns, and contained at best but 
few men of military training. The opening of the year 
1644 found the king in possession of almost two-thirds of 
England. 

The Solemn League and Covenant. — But Parliament began Gardiner, 
now to retrieve its position. In the autumn of 1643 there ^^'^^^^^^ 

111 111 IT •ir-iiiT-.i Revolution, 

had been concluded an alliance with Scotland. By the 131-133. 
Solemn League and Covenant, Parliament was bound to 
establish Presbyterianism in England. In return the Round- 
heads received the support of a large force of Scots led by 
Leslie, Earl of Leven. The treaty with Scotland was Pym's 
last service to the Parliamentary cause. He- died before Death of 
the year was out. ^>'"'" '^-+3- 

Oliver Cromwell. — But a greater man than Pym was Green, 

A\- (^ 11 K f PP- 535-540- 

coming into prominence. Oliver Cromwell, member for Gardiner, 

Cambridge, was, like Pym and Eliot and Hampden, a sim- Puritan 

pie country gentleman of good birth and fair estate. When ^?^^^^^^^^^^. 
, . . PP- 128-130, 

the civil war broke out, he was appointed captain of a troop 137, 138. 



314 



The PiLritan Revolution 



Marston 
Moor, 1644. 



Gardiner, 

Puritan 
Revolution, 

pp. 134-139- 
Green, 

pp. 543-547- 



of horse. He was a born cavalry leader, and little by little 
became the guiding spirit in military affairs on the Parlia- 
mentary side. Cromwell was the first to point out the 
defects of the Parliamentary army, and to indicate the 
remedy. After the battle of Edgehill he said to Hampden, 
" You must get men of a spirit that is likely to go as far as 
gentlemen will go." He would match cavalier loyalty by 
spiritual zeal, and he filled his troops with men who, as he 
said, "made some conscience of what they did." The 
few successes of the Roundheads were gained mainly by 
Cromwell. Through his efforts the Eastern Association 
was formed and the counties on the east were kept free 
from Royalist invasion. Finally, at the battle of Marston 
Moor (July 2, 1644), the first great battle of the war, he 
turned what had seemed defeat into an overwhelming vic- 
tory. 

Rise of Independency. — Serious divisions were becoming 
manifest among the Parliamentarians. On one side was 
the Presbyterian party, in control of Parliament, intent on 
establishing the Scotch doctrine and discipline, and disin- 
clined through loyalty or conservatism to push matters to 
an extremity with the king. On the other side were the 
Independents, so called because they favored the Separatist 
idea of independent congregations without any general 
ecclesiastical organization. To the Independent party be- 
longed many of the stronger Puritans, men who cared little 
for dogma and outward form and much for holiness of liv- 
ing. In opposition to the dogmatism of the Presbyterians, 
they upheld the idea of toleration. Foremost among the 
Independents was Cromwell. Church systems were to him 
a matter of indifference, and he had filled his own regi- 
ments, popularly called the Ironsides, with upholders of 
every variety of Puritan belief, but all good men and good 
soldiers. The needs of the war as well as his own temper 
made Cromwell tolerant. He was bent on carrying the 
war through to a speedy and triumphant conclusion, and 
he saw that Parliament could not afford to lose the services 



Naseby and the End of the War 315 

of good fighting men simply because they were not in 
accord with the dominant doctrinal views. To one of the 
Presbyterian generals, he wrote in warning, "Take heed 
of being sharp, or too easily sharpened by others against 
those to whom you can object little but that they square 
not with you in every opinion concerning matters of reli- 
gion." 

The Self-denying Ordinance. — Early in 1645 Cromwell Gardiner, 
and those who were bent on a more vigorous prosecution P'^^'^^^ 

- . 11- . •, , T^ , . Revolution, 

of the war, succeeded m carrying through Parliament a pp. 139-143. 
Self-denying Ordinance, by which members of either House Green, 
were made ineligible for command in the army. The ^^' 54^543- 
object was to get rid of Essex and Manchester, the aristo- 
cratic and incompetent generals who had hitherto hampered 
the military measures of Parliament. Cromwell resigned 
his seat, together with the other officers, but an exception 
was made in his favor. He was allowed to retain his place 
in the House while serving as lieutenant-general with com- 
mand of the cavalry. At the same time a bill was passed 
reorganizing the army. In the hands of Cromwell the 
"New Model," as the reconstituted force was called, be- New Model 
came the most remarkable army that the world has ever 
seen. It was not merely a perfect body of soldiers, unsur- 
passed in courage, training, and discipline. It was also 
an organized force of religious and political reformers, 
representing what was noblest and strongest in Puritanism. 
Most of the officers were Independents or belonged to 
some other of the new sects, and the controlling element 
among the soldiers was strongly Puritan. In the New 
Model the citizen was never lost in the soldier; each man * 

knew for what he was fighting, and the end once attained, 
he was eager to return to his home and calling. Such a 
force led by the genius of Cromwell was irresistible. 

Naseby and the End of the War. — In the meantime 
Charles sought aid in every direction. He had hope of 
obtaining soldiers from France and from Lorraine. He 
strove to win the support of the Irish by promising to sus- 



3i6 



The Puritan Revolution 



Naseby, 
1645. 



Girdiner, 

Puritan 

Revolution, 

pp. 144-149- 

Green, 

PP- 547-552. 



pend all penal acts against the Catholics. He even agreed 
secretly to grant the supremacy of the Catholic Church in 
Ireland if aid could be obtained in no other way. He 
also tried to win the support of the Scotch, and his agent, 
Montrose, planned a diversion in tlie Highlands which 
would necessitate the recall of the Scottish army. But the 
energy of Cromwell left Charles little time to carry out his 
irreconcilable schemes. On the 14th of June, 1645, the 
Royalist forces and the New Model met at Naseby. I'he 
contest was a repetition of Marston Moor, and the victory 
of Parliament was complete. In September, Montrose 
suffered a disastrous defeat at Philiphaugh. One by one, 
Bristol, Basing, and the other Royalist strongholds were 
reduced. By the summer of 1646 Charles had no longer 
an army in the field. 

Negotiation and Intrigue. — Charles was hopelessly beaten 
on the field, but his cause was not yet lost. In the diverse 
opinions of his foes lay a chance of wringing victory from 
defeat. Parliament was in the hands of fanatical Presby- 
terians, who feared and detested the army with its ideas of 
toleration. It had lost touch with the nation, but it still 
had the support of London, and it was the one legal and 
constitutional authority that remained. The army wished 
to restrain both king and Parliament in the interests of 
civil and religious liberty. Power was with the army, but 
as a military body it was unfit for the task of reorgan- 
izing the government, and it had no shadow of constitu- 
tional right. 

Charles was skilful in taking advantage of these divisions, 
and for the next two years he carried on a series of in- 
trigues with the different parties among his opponents, 
being, as he said, " not without hope that I shall be able 
to draw Presbyterians or Independents to side with me for 
extirpating one another, that I shall be really king again." 

The Newcastle Propositions. — After the dispersal of his 
forces Charles took refuge with the Scotch army at Newark. 
On the 17th of July proposals for peace from the Scots and 







Si- 



S =1 

o ca 

h- CO 
=t- CO 

0:02 
^^ 

-u O 



c O 



01 a> 

^ CO 

^^ 

c o 



•■p> 



3i8 



The Puritcui Revolution 



Parliament were presented to Charles at Newcastle. The 
king was asked to accept the Covenant, to support Presby- 
terianism, and to give over the control of the militia to 
Parliament for twenty years. On Charles's refusal to accept 
these terms the Scots placed him in the hands of the English 
commissioners/ and withdrew northwards. Parliament be- 
gan to show a willingness to lessen its demands. The truth 
was, it was chiefly intent on getting rid of the army, which 
it was now proposing to disband. The danger that men- 
aced Independency and religious liberty aroused the sol- 




Carisbrookk Castle 

After an original drawing by G. Holmes 

diers. They organized as a body politic, and chose repre- 
sentatives, called Agitators, who were to consult together 
on all important matters. In the summer of 1647 they 
seized the king and carried him, not unwilling, to New- 
market. At the same time they refused to disband until 
a satisfactory settlement of the kingdom had been made. 

The Heads of the Proposals. — During the next few months 
Cromwell and the leading Independents strove to come to 
terms with Charles. Their conditions as presented in the 
Heads of the Proposals were wise and moderate. They 
demanded electoral reform and biennial Parliaments. 

1 In exchange for arrears due the army, amounting to _^40o,ooo. 




Trial of Charles I 

From a Print in Nalson's Report of the Trial, 1684. The description of this print 
(in Nalson's Report) ends: "The pageant of this mock tribunal is thus 
represented to your view by an eye- and ear-witness of what he heard and 
saw there." 



A, the King 

B, the Lord President, Bradshaw 

T^' TTT o r Bradshaw's Assistants 

D, Wm. bay ) 

E, Andrew Broughton / Clerks of the 

F, John Phelps j Court 



The Arms of the 



G, Oliver Cromwell ( Commonwealth 
H, Henry Marten j ^^^^ ^^^^ 

' ^ . , ( Counsellors for the 
K, Dorislaus r Commonwealth 
L, Aske ' 



319 



320 



The Puritan RevohUion 



Gardiner, 

Puritan 

Revolution, 

pp. 149-153- 
Green, 

PP- 552-555. 



Pride's 
Purge, 1648. 



There was to be religious liberty for all except the Catho- 
lics. For ten years the crown was to give up control of 
the army and navy. On the king's refusal to accept these 
terms some of the more advanced Agitators proposed a 
constitution still more democratic in character/ and in 
their efforts to force it upon the generals there was danger 
of a contest in the army. 

The Second Civil War. — Charles had for some time been 
secretly negotiating with the Scots, and he finally entered 
into an engagement to establish Presbyterianism in England 
for three years in return for the support of a Scottish army. 
He was now rewarded by seeing two of his opponents 
come to blows. In 1648 a large force of Scots crossed the 
border. The Royalists rallied again. Wales broke out in 
insurrection. The war was sharp and short. At Preston 
on the 17 th of August Cromwell won a great victory over 
the Scottish army. The Royalist cause was lost. 

Trial and Execution of the King. — But the patience of 
the army was exhausted; many w^re coming to feel that a 
settlement of the country was impossible so long as Charles 
lived. Parliament still refused to come to an understand- 
ing with the Independents, and renewed negotiations with 
the king, who, in the meantime, had entered into an in- 
trigue with the Irish Catholics. On the 6th of December 
a detachment of soldiers, under Colonel Pride, arrested 
the leaders of the Presbyterian party at the doors of the 
House of Commons. Pride's Purge, as this ^tof violence 
was popularly called, left the Independents in control of 
Parliament. A High Court of Justice was appointed to 
try the king, who had been brought from Carisbrooke 
Castle, where he had been held a prisoner since the out- 
break of the Scotch war. Charles refused to acknowledge 
the authority of the new tribunal, but nothing could save 
him. He was condemned to death as a "tyrant, traitor, 
and murderer." On the 29th of January he was beheaded 
before Whitehall. He died like a saint and a hero. 

1 The Agreement of the People, Old South Leaflets, No. 26. 



Charles II and Scotland 321 

The Establishment of the Commonwealth. — The death of Gardiner, 
the king was followed by the establishment of a republic. ^^^IZuon, 
Monarchy and the House of Lords were abolished as useless pp. 154--156. 
and dangerous, and England was declared to be a free Com- 
monwealth, and therefore to be governed by representatives 
of the people without any king or hereditary House. The 
remnant of the Long Parliament, derisively called the 
Rump, assumed the name of Parliament, and appointed 
forty-one persons to act as an Executive Council of State. 
Power, however, belonged to the army and to its great 
leader, Cromwell, and the history of the next ten years is 
the history of their attempt to rule England. 

Conquest of Ireland. — England's immediate danger was Green, 
from without. Foreign powers did not recognize the new p^- 55^^^ ^59, 
republic. Ireland was almost wholly in the hands of the 
Stuart party, while Scotland offered to Prince Charles the 
crown. The reconquest of Ireland was Cromwell's first task. 
He landed at Dublin in August, 1649, with a force of nine 
thousand men. On September nth, Drogheda was carried 
by storm and two thousand of the garrison were put to the 
sword. The fall of Wexford followed, accompanied by 
similar slaughter. During the next few months town after 
town surrendered, and when Cromwell returned to England 
in the spring of 1650 the reconquest was assured. Out of 
a population of a million and a half, almost six hundred 
thousand had perished in the nine years of war. 

The restoration of English ascendency was followed by 
wholesale confiscations. Almost all the land of the Irish ^j^^^^^j^.^^ 
in Leinster, Ulster, and Munster, the three largest and J^^^^^^^ 
richest provinces, was divided among the soldiers of Crom- 
well's army and the adventurers who had contributed money 
for carrying on the war. To the Irish landowners nothing 
was left but the rocks and bogs of Connaught. 

Charles II and Scotland. — In the summer of 1650 Prince Green, 

,1 pp. c;tQ— eoi, 

Charles, convinced that there was no alternative, accepted ^^^^^ 
the Covenant, and was acknowledged king by the Scotch. 
The contest was immediately renewed. At the head of a 




BORMAy Ic C0^EN6R'S,»,V, 



The Settleine7it of the Government 323 

large army Cromwell invaded Scotland, and on the 3d of 
September he won the great victory of Dunbar. During Dunbar, 
the following months a large part of Scotland was con- ^^5°* 
quered. Finally, in a last effort to rally the English Roy- 
alists, Charles made a bold dash over the border. At 
Worcester he was overtaken by the army of the Common- Worcester, 
wealth, and there, on the 3d of September, 165 1, the last ^^^^* 
battle of the war was fought. Cromwell won an over- 
whelming victory. Charles was forced to seek safety in 
flight to the continent, and the Royalists were too much 
broken to think of rallying again. 

The union of the two kingdoms followed. In sharp con- 
trast to the merciless treatment of Ireland, the rule of the 
Commonwealth in Scotland was just and wise. It was 
Burnet, a Scotchman and an enemy to Cromwell, who de- 
clared, " we always reckon these eight years of the usurpa- 
tion a time of great peace and prosperity." 

The Settlement of the Government. — From the work of 
subduing Ireland and Scotland Cromwell turned to the far 
more complicated task of restoring order to England. The 
difficulties in the way of a settlement seemed insurmount- 
able. While the nation was still hot with the passions of 
civil war, with the whole local machinery disordered, a 
government was to be organized where there was no agree- 
ment as to principle. Between Royalists and Parliamenta- 
rians was the execution of the king. The question of 
toleration sundered Presbyterians and Independents. Even 
in the army Cromwell met with opposition. There was an 
active republican party. The disorders of the time had 
given rise to all kinds of extravagant opinions. The ideals 
of Cromwell were not the ideals of the nation, and to allow Gardiner, 
the people to have their way meant to give up most of those P'^^^t'^n 
things for which the Independents had fought. For this pp^ j^^_ ^5^^ 
Cromwell was not ready. He was not, however, by nature 
a despot, and over and over he attempted to secure the 
cooperation of the people. 

The Long Parliament was fast becoming unpopular. 



324 



The Piivitan Revolution 



End of the 
Long Parlia- 
ment, 1653. 



Green, 

pp. 561-565. 

Gardiner, 

Puritan 

Revolution, 

pp. 162, 163. 



Old South 

Leaflets, 

No. 28. 

Gardiner, 

Puritan 

Revolution, 

pp. 164-166. 

Green, 

pp. 565-567. 



Gardiner, 
Puritafi 
Revolution, 
pp. 166-171. 
Green, 

PP- 567-570- 
Old South 
Leaflets, 
No. 27, 



The members showed little desire to bring about that speedy 
settlement of the country for which the army contended, 
and charges of corruption were freely raised against them. 
Almost thirteen years had elapsed since the last election. 
Parliament had lost over two-thirds of its membership, and 
nevertheless, in spite of Cromwell's repeated urging, it 
showed no readiness to dissolve itself. At last patience 
was exhausted. Cromwell rose one day in his seat in the 
House, crying, "I will put an end to this. It is not fit 
that you should sit here any longer," and he commanded 
his soldiers to clear the hall. 

Cromwell was now master of the country, but he did not 
wish to rule alone, and he shrank from calling for new 
elections. So he summoned to his aid " godly men to rule 
until the people were fitted to act." The new assembly 
was called in derision Barebone's Parliament, because a 
certain Praise-God Barebone sat in it. It contained many 
men of character and position, but unfortunately most of 
the members were visionaries, who at once attempted ex- 
travagant reforms. Cromwell's strong common sense was 
opposed to such a course, and he induced the assembly to 
declare its own dissolution. 

The Instrument of Government and the Protectorate. — The 
next scheme of government had what Cromwell had always 
advocated, "somewhat of monarchy in it." By the Instru- 
ment of Government, a constitutional document drawn up 
by some of Cromwell's supporters, power was vested in a 
Protector, a Council of State, and a Parliament of a single 
House. There was to be a redistribution of seats in Eng- 
land, depriving small hamlets of the franchise, while giv- 
ing votes to the new towns and more populous counties, 
and representation was accorded to Ireland and Scotland. 
By a system of checks and constitutional limitations all 
danger of either executive or Parliamentary absolutism 
was to be averted. Cromwell was named Protector, with 
command of the army and navy. In September, 1654, the 
first Parliament under the Instrument came together. It 



The Instrument of Government 



325 



proceeded at once to question the authority of the docu- ^e^flJtf^ 
ment under which it had been chosen, and asserted its ^o. 62.' 




Oliver Cromwell 

Ufizzi, Florence. Painted by Van der Plaas; generally ascribed to Sir 
Peter Lely 

claim to frame a new constitution. Finding that he could 
not control the House, Cromwell dissolved it. 

During the next eighteen months England was under Green, 
military rule. Republican and Royalist plots to overthrow ?• 57^- 
the government were discovered, and there was much oppo- 



326 



The Puritafi Revolution 



Gardiner, 
Puritan 
Revolution, 
pp. 172, 173. 



Gardiner, 

Puritan 

Revolution, 

pp. 176-180. 

Green, 

pp. 576-579. 



sition to Cromwell's attempt to collect the taxes as author- 
ized by the Instrument. He therefore had resort to martial 
law, and dividing England into ten districts, placed a 
major-general over each, with power to maintain order and 
to collect the revenue. 

The Humble Petition and Advice. — In 1656 need of 
money for the war with Spain led Cromwell to make 
another attempt to secure the aid of Parliament in carry- 
ing on the government. To avoid the contest for authority 
which was sure to arise with a freely elected House, one 
hundred of the members returned most likely to oppose 
the Protector were excluded at the opening of the session. 
The remaining members showed great docility, and with 
a desire to strengthen Cromwell's position proceeded to 
amend the Instrument by drawing up the Petition and 
Advice. There was to be an Upper House, and the Pro- 
tector was given the power of naming his successor. It 
was also proposed that he should take the title of king, 
but Cromwell would not agree to this, no doubt because 
of the opposition of the army. The Petition and Advice 
showed a return to the forms of the old constitution, but it 
brought no improvement in the working of the government. 
In January, 1658, Parliament met under the new arrange- 
ment, but the two Houses fell at once to quarrelling. 
After a session of two weeks Cromwell ordered a dissolu- 
tion. "The Lord," he said, "judge between me and 
you." This was Cromwell's last attempt to establish a 
Parliamentary government. 

Foreign Relations. — The foreign policy of the Puritan 
government was vigorous and brilliantly successful. Crom- 
well's genius gained for England a greater place in Europe 
than that which she had secured under Elizabeth and lost 
under James. The close of the Thirty Years' War in 1648 
marks the transition from religious to commercial and 
political considerations as the determining force in the 
international politics of Europe. The Puritan Common- 
wealth could not fail, however, to take some account of 



War with Spain 



327 



religion in its foreign policy. Cromwell's declared object 
was to establish a union of Protestant Europe under Eng- 
land's leadership. A proposed alliance with France was 
delayed until the persecution of the Vaudois^ had been 
stopped, and war was waged against Spain in part at least 
because of her traditional position as the great Catholic 
power of Europe; but the chief work of the Puritan govern- 
ment was not concerned with religion. The most durable 
achievement of the Protectorate was to break down the 
trading monopolies of the Dutch and Spanish in Europe 
and in America, and to lay the foundations of England's 
maritime supremacy. 

The Navigation Act. — Commercial rivalry between the 
Dutch and the English had existed since the time of 
James I. In 1650 the Dutch were at the height of their 
power. Their merchant vessels were the best in the world, 
and they had a monopoly of the carrying trade of Europe. 
In 1651 the Long Parliament passed the Navigation Act, 
the first of a series of measures intended to build up Eng- 
lish commerce. The importation of goods into England 
except in English vessels or in the ships of the country 
which produced the goods was forbidden. The Navigation 
Act dealt a severe blow to the Dutch carrying trade, and 
led in 1652 to a war with Holland. Under the manage- 
ment of Sir Henry Vane the English navy had been put in 
fine condition, partly as a counterpoise to the army. In 
command of the fleet was Blake, England's greatest seaman 
before Nelson. Opposed to Blake was the famous Dutch 
admiral. Van Tromp. The two fleets were well matched, 
and a series of bloody fights took place during the two 
years of the war. In the end the States were forced to treat 
for peace. The maritime ascendency of England began 
with the decline of the Dutch naval power. 

War with Spain. — The hostility of Europe was soon 
converted to a desire for the friendship of the Common- 



See Milton's 
sonnet, 
AvetJge, O 
Lord, thy 
slatightered 
sainis. 



Bright, II, 

698-701. 



Gardiner, 

Puritan 
Revolution, 
p. 162. 

Am. Hist. 
Leaflets, 
No. 19. 



Traill, IV, 
264-270. 



Green, 

PP- 573-576. 



1 A sect inhabiting the valleys of Piedmont and professing a Protestant- 
ism which antedates the Reformation. 



328 



The Puritan Revohttioti 



Gardiner, 
Puritan 
Revolution, 
pp. 174, 175, 
181. 



Green, 

pp. 572, 573- 



wealth. When Cromwell met Parliament in 1654 he could 
truly say, "There is not a nation in Europe but is very 
willing to ask a good understanding with you." Spain and 
France were then at war. Cromwell first offered his sup- 
port to Spain in return for Dunkirk and aid in the recon- 
quest of Calais. In addition he demanded freedom of 
commerce in the West Indies and religious liberty for the 
English living under the Spanish government. These 
terms were refused, and thereupon Cromwell sent Blake 
to attack the Spanish West Indies, and offered England's 
alliance to France. This line of policy was crowned 
with success. Dunkirk surrendered to the French and was 
placed in English hands; the Spanish fleets were destroyed 
by Blake; Jamaica passed into the possession of England, 
and Spain's commercial monopoly was finally broken. But 
England's weight had been thrown on the side of France, 
a growing and ambitious power, destined to become a 
dangerous rival. 

England under Puritan Rule. — The triumphs of the Com- 
monwealth abroad filled even its opponents with pride. 
Nor were grounds for satisfaction entirely lacking at home. 

Cromwell's rule was stern, but he rarely used violence or 
unnecessary severity. Provided his authority was respected, 
there was little interference with individual rights. Order 
was well maintained, and all risings, whether of Royalists 
or Levellers,^ were put down with a strong hand. Taxation 
was heavy, but industry was not unduly burdened. The 
Royalists were taxed at a higher rate than others, on the 
ground that their hostility made necessary the large and 
costly military establishment. By an ordinance issued in 
1654, the Church was reorganized. Religious worship was 
to be established. Tithes were retained and the rights of 
patronage were respected. A Board of Triers was appointed 
to examine into the fitness of ministers presented to livings. 
So long as a man was of godly life it mattered not whether 
he was a Presbyterian or an Independent. Toleration was 

1 A party holding extreme democratic opinions. 



Fall of the Commomvealth 



329 



Death of 

Cromwell, 

1658. 

Green, 
P- 579- 

Green, 



the principle and with some exceptions the practice of 
Cromwell's government. At first there was little interfer- 
ence with the Episcopalians, but after a time the Anglican 
worship was prohibited as tending to stir up disaffection. 
The prohibition was not, however, rigorously enforced, and 
zealous worshippers continued to meet, only more privately. 
Some protection was given to Catholics, and the Jews, who 
had been excluded from England since the time of Edward I, 
were permitted to return. Had Cromwell lived longer he 
might have effected many improvements. The reform of 
Chancery and the equalizing of the electoral system were 
matters that he had at heart. But Cromwell's work was 
done. He and his generation were hopelessly at odds. 
He was as far in advance of his age as Strafford was behind 
it. On the 3d of September, the anniversary of Dunbar 
and Worcester, he died, worn out with grief and anxiety. 

Fall of the Commonwealth. — The days of the Common- 
wealth were numbered. Richard Cromwell, Oliver's eldest PP- 579-5 5- 
son, was made Protector, but he could not hope to succeed 
where his father had failed. His desire was to lean upon 
the new Parliament, which was convened in January, 1659, 
but the army forced him to order a dissolution. A month 
later Richard abdicated. During the next few months 
power was in the hands of the soldiers. They replaced 
the Rump at Westminster, but when it strove to rule they 
overthrew it. After a brief attempt at military government, 
they again restored Parliament. General Monk, who was Monk. 
in command of the forces in Scotland, determined to put 
an end to the anarchy. At the head of his army he marched 
to London and declared for a free Parliament. He found 
support on all sides. The nation was weary of martial 
rule, and even the Presbyterians demanded the return of 
the old dynasty. The army, tricked and abandoned by 
its leaders, could make no opposition. Negotiations were 
opened with Charles II, who finally signed a declaration, 
known as the Declaration of Breda, agreeing to such a set- 
tlement of the country as Parliament should approve. On 



330 



The Puritan RevoliUion 



Recall of the the ist of May, 1660, the new Parliament resolved that, 

Stuarts, 1660. "according to the ancient and fundamental laws of this 

Kingdom, the Government is, and ought to be, by King, 

Lords, and Commons." A month later Charles landed at 

Dover amidst rejoicing crowds. 

The Failure of Puritanism. — The Puritan rebellion had 
ended in apparent failure. In the contest against the 
despotism of the second Stuart, Parliament and the nation 
were victorious, but religious differences aroused strife 
among the conquerors. The cause of religious liberty 
triumphed with Cromwell, but the victory was based on 
force, and found little response in the nation, not yet 
ready for the ideals of the Puritan leader. The result was 
the reaction which we call the Restoration. The over- 
severity of Puritan rule led to the shamelessness of society 
under the third Stuart. Toleration at the point of the 

sword ended in the penal 
code against dissent. The 
outcome of the execution 
of Charles was the doctrine 
of non-resistance. Never- 
theless, Puritanism was far 
from dead. The spirit that 
found expression in the 
writings of Milton and 
Bunyan left an impress on 
the national character that 

might be for a time ob- 
SEAL OF THE COMMONWEALTH ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ entirely 

effaced. Nor was the work of the Puritan revolution lost 
with the fall of the Commonwealth, A generation later it 
won its real triumph in the Bill of Rights and the Act 
of Toleration establishing the principles of constitutional 
rule and religious freedom. 




Important Events 331 



Important Events 

James I, 1 603-1 625. 

Hampton Court Conference, 1604. 
Beginning of Tliirty Years' War, 1618. 
Impeachment of Bacon, 1621. 

Charles I, 1 625-1 649. 

Petition of Riglit, 1628. 
Assassination of Buckingham, 1628. 
Personal government, 1 629-1 640. 
Ship-money decision, 1638. 
War with Scotland, 1639. 
Meeting of Long Parliament, 1640. 
Execution of StraiTord, 1641. 
Outbreak of Civil War, 1642. 
Solemn League and Covenant, 1643. 
Naseby, 1645. 
Second Civil War, 1648. 
Pride's Purge, 1648. 
Execution of Charles, 1649. 

Commonwealth and Protectorate, i 649-1 660. 
Worcester, 1651. 
Navigation Act, 1 65 1. 
Expulsion of Rump, 1653. 
Establishment of a Protectorate, 1653. 
Death of Cromwell, 1658. 
Recall of the Stuarts, 1660. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE RESTORATION AND THE REVOLUTION 
Books for Consultation 

Sources 

Shaftesbury, Letters and Speeches. 
Life ofjafjies LL (by himself) . 
Clarendon, Life of Clarendon. 
Burnet, LListory of my Own Times. 
Pepys, Diary and Correspondence. 
Y)%io&, Journal of the Plague, i66j. 
Evelyn, Diary and Correspondence. 

Special Authorities 

Lingard, Llistory of England. 
Macaulay, History of England. 
Hallam, Constitutioital History of England. 
Neal, History of the Pztritans. 
Seeley, Groivth of British Policy. 
Christie, LAfe of Shaftesbury. 
^Vi%%^Vi, Life of Lord Russell. 
Traill, Shaftesbury, William LTL. 

Macaulay, Essays on Sir William Temple, and on the Comic Dramatists 
of the Restoration. 

Imaginative Literature 

Scott, Old Mortality, Peveril of the Peak. 
Shorthouse, y<9/z?2 Lnglesant. 

Green, The Return of Charles II. — The recall of the Stuarts did 

pp. 602-605. not mean that the work of the last twenty years was to be 
Bright, II, all undone. The overthrow of the Commonwealth had been 
brought about by a party which desired a settlement of the 
government in accordance with the constitutional relations 
that existed at the close of the first session of the Long Par- 

332 



722-726. 



The Return of Charles II 



333 



liament. To the people generally the restoration of the 
monarchy meant a return to government by king and Parha- 
ment. Charles II was shrewd enough to realize this, and 
the men whom he called to his Council were moderate in 
temper, Royalists or Presbyterians. Edward Hyde, later 
Earl of Clarendon, was appointed Chancellor. A leader of 
the Long Parliament during its first session, then the faithful 
adviser of Charles I, Clarendon now became Charles IPs 
chief minister. 




The Ship Naseby 
On which Charles II returned to England 



The Convention Parliament continued to sit during the Settlement 



year 1660. Its duty was to execute the articles of the 
Declaration of Breda, and to provide for the needs of 
the crown. An Act of Amnesty was passed, but most of the 
late king's judges were excepted, and in the end thirteen of 
the regicides, together with Vane and Lambert, were exe- 
cuted. The bodies of Cromwell and Ireton were dragged 
from their tombs in Westminster Abbey, and hanged, and 
the bodies of Pym and Blake were dug up and thrown into 
a common pit. A great deal of property had changed 
hands during the revolution, through confiscation, or sales 
often more or less forced. The Church and the king 



of the 
government. 



334 ^/^^ Restoration and the Revolution 

received back their lands, but private sales were declared 
valid. The horror of military rule was shown by the speed 
with which the army of the Commonwealth was disbanded, 
only two regiments being retained. Feudal dues and pur- 
veyance were abolished, and their place was suppHed by 
an excise. Tonnage and poundage were granted the king 
for life, and the whole revenue of the crown was fixed at 
;£i, 200,000 a year. An attempt to settle the Church by a 
compromise establishing a form of government partly Epis- 
copal and partly Presbyterian in character was wrecked by 
the fear that it might open the way to toleration of Roman 
Catholics. This question remained undecided when the 
Convention was dissolved. 
Bright, II, The Cavalier Parliament. — The tide of loyalty was rising 

72^- fast. The Parliament called in 166 1 was fired with zeal for 

Church and king. It included not more than fifty Presby- 
terians, and its reactionary temper was at once apparent. 
Every member was ordered to receive the communion ac- 
cording to the rites of the Anglican Church, and the League 
and Covenant was solemnly burnt in Westminster Hall. 
Formal resolutions were passed declaring that there was no 
legislative power in Parliament without the royal sanction, 
that the king was the rightful commander of all forces, and 
that it was unlawful for either House to make war against 
the crown. 
Green, Settlement of the Church. — The most important task of 

pp. 606-610. |-|^g j^g^ Parliament was the settlement of the religious ques- 
726-728 732 ^^^^* ^ conference called in April at the Savoy Palace be- 
tween Presbyterian and Episcopalian divines showed great 
bitterness of feeling and failed to devise a basis of com- 
promise. The whole question was left to Parliament. The 
chief characteristics of the predominant element in the 
nation were devotion to the English Church and detestation 
of Roman Catholics and Nonconformists, and legislation 
Act of reflected this temper. In 1662 an Act of Uniformity was 

Uniformity, passed requiring all clergymen and schoolmasters and fel- 
lows of colleges to accept unfeignedly everything contained 



Settlement of the Church 



335 



in the Prayer Book. As a result, nearly two thousand 
clergymen, about one-fifth of the whole number, including 
the most learned and active men in the Church, were de- 
prived of their charges. They were the leaders of the 
party which had continued to hold to the early Puritan 
idea of remaining within the national Church in the hope of 
moulding it. They were now forced to establish com- 
munions outside of the Church. Together with the Inde- 
pendents, Baptists, Quakers, and other sects, they formed a 
large Nonconformist body. 




against 
Dissenters. 



Silver crown of charues ii 

(the famous petition croto) 

The apprehension with which Dissenters ^ were regarded Penal^^ 
was shown in a series of penal statutes. The towns were 
the stronghold of Presbyterianism, and in 1661 the Corpora- 
tion Act was passed, requiring all holders of municipal office 
to take the Sacrament in accordance with the rites of the 
Anglican Church, to renounce the Covenant, and to take 
the oath of non-resistance.^ By the Conventicle Act of 
1664, rehgious meetings where more than four persons m 
addition to the household came together were prohibited 
unless in accordance with the forms of the Established 
Church. A third violation of this law was punished by 

1 So the Nonconformists were now commonly called. 

2 Doctrine of non-resistance as embodied in the oath of allegiance: 
"I, A B, do declare and believe that it is not lawful upon any pretence 
whatever to take up arms against the king." 



336 TJie Restoi'ation and the Revolution 

transportation. Another restrictive measure was passed 
under circumstances of peculiar infamy. In 1665 the 
plague was raging in London and most of the established 
clergy had fled in panic. The Dissenters, a far more earnest 
set of men, undertook the duties so abandoned, tending the 
sick and holding funeral services. Parhament, at a safe 
distance in Oxford, where it had gone to avoid the plague, 
passed the Five-Mile Act, forbidding all clergymen who had 
not subscribed the Act of Uniformity or who would not 
swear to the doctrine of passive obedience and take an oath 
never to " endeavour any alteration of government in Church 
or State," to come within five miles of a town or Parliament 
borough. 
Bright, II, The Dutch War. — Under Charles II the old strife between 

735-737- England and Holland was renewed. The commercial rivalry 

pp. 612 613 of the two countries was growing keener and disputes oc- 
curred daily, but thus far the Dutch retained their superi- 
ority. From the outset Charles had shown genuine interest 
in the development of Enghsh colonies and trade, but his 
opposition to Holland was strengthened by personal resent- 
ment for insults received from the Dutch government during 
his exile. 

Quarrels between Dutch and English merchants on the 
coast of Guinea led to hostilities between the two countries 
in 1664, although there was no formal declaration of war until 
the year following. In England the war was popular, and 
Parhament voted what was then the very large grant of 
;^2, 500,000 to carry it on. Success was at first on the side 
of the English. They gained possession of the Dutch colo- 
nies on the Hudson and in the West Indies, and in -June, 
1665, the fleet under the Duke of York, brother of the king, 
won a great victory off" Lowestoft. The next year the tide 
turned. After a contest of two days the Dutch, commanded 
by De Ruyter, succeeded in defeating the English in the 
Downs. On the whole, England was superior in ships and 
gunnery, but this advantage was lost through the bad man- 
agement and corruption of the government. The generous 



Fall of Clarendoit 337 

grants of Parliament for carrying on the war were appropri- 
ated to the king's pleasure, and in 1667, in the mistaken 
expectation that peace was at hand, the fleet was dismantled. 
The coast of England lay unprotected, and at once De Ruyter 
sailed up the Thames and burnt the shipping in the Medway. 
For several days London was held in a state of blockade, 
but the Dutch did not push their advantage, for they were 
desirous to bring the war to an end. Bound by treaty obliga- 
tions, France had joined Holland in 1666. Little aid had 
been given, however, and the Dutch were coming to fear the 
intentions of their ally. In fact, Louis XIV desired nothing 
so much as to see the two maritime powers destroy one 
another. In July, 1667, the peace of Breda was signed. Treaty of 
Under the treaty England was secured in her possession of ^'"^<^^> '^^^' 
the Dutch colonies of America. 

Fall of Clarendon. — The conclusion of the Dutch war Bright, 11, 
was followed by the overthrow of Clarendon. For some 73°. 736-739- 
time dissatisfaction with the government had been growing. 
The Dissenters smarted under their disabilities. The fears 
of Churchmen were aroused by efforts of the king to obtain 
toleration for the Catholics. The sale of Dunkirk to France 
in 1662, although probably no real disadvantage to England, 
touched the national pride. There was general indignation 
over the mismanagement of the war. And just at this time 
the country was passing through a period of economic de- 
pression. Trade was at a standstill, a sudden fall in the 
price of wheat forced down rents one-fourth, and London, Defoe, 
which in i66s had lost one-fifth of its population by the Journal of 

, . ^ ^ ■'the Plague. 

plague, was in the following year devastated by a terrible 
fire which broke out on the 3d of September and raged 
for three days. 

The king did not escape popular disapproval, but the 
attacks of Parhament were directed against Clarendon. 
Charles made little effort to save his minister, whose serious 
life he felt a constraint and whose opposition to his plan for 
Catholic toleration he had not forgiven. In the hope of . 
winning popularity he dismissed Clarendon from the chan- 



33^ The Restoration and the Revolution 

cellorship. A formal impeachment by the House of Com- 
mons followed (1667), but the fallen mmister saved himself 
by flight to France, where he hved in banishment until his 
death. Clarendon's ideal was the system of the sixteenth 
century, an Episcopal Church dependent upon the crown, 
irresponsible power wielded by an enlightened and con- 
scientious king. He repeated the mistake of Strafford in 
endeavoring to make of a Stuart a ruler after the EHza- 
bethan type. The ministerial crisis of 1667 was accom- 
panied by a real advance in constitutional government. 
The right of the Commons to control taxation had been 
secured by the Long Parhament. The principle was now 
established that supplies should not be diverted from the 
use for which they were voted, and that the national ac- 
counts should be subject to inspection. 
Green, Religious Policy of Charles II. — Charles II had far more 

pp. 613-617. ^^^^ ^^^ ability than his father, but on the other hand less 
principle and less earnestness. Selfishness, love of pleasure, 
were the dominant notes in his character. At the outset of the 
reign he showed little ambition, but, surrounding himself with 
men of his own kind, led a life of dissipation which made the 
court a national shame. The king was avowedly a sceptic, 
but his sympathies were with the Catholics, and his only 
interference in the pohcy of the government had been in 
their behalf. In 1660 he had asked Parliament to grant 
general religious liberty, and in 1662 he issued a declaration 
in favor of toleration and strove to make arrangements with 
Parliament enabling him to mitigate the harshness of the 
Act of Uniformity under the power which he claimed of dis- 
pensing with the laws in particular cases. Fear of popery 
was the strongest feeling in the nation at this time, and the 
Cavalier Parliament answered the king's proposal by deny- 
ing that he possessed the dispensing power and by banish- 
ing all Roman Catholic priests. 
Bright, II, Clarendon's overthrow coincided with a change in the atti- 

741- tude of the king. Charles had learned that dependence 

upon Parhament hindered his freedom to do as he liked. 



Charles II and Finance 



339 



He objected to interference in the expenditure of the court, 
to criticism of his manner of life. Moreover, he was sincere 
in his wish to relieve the Catholics from the oppression of 
the penal laws, and he realized that the opposition of Parlia- 
ment blocked the way to this. For these reasons he hence- 
forth definitely strove to free himself from Parliamentary 
restraint. 

Charles II and France. 
— After the fall of Clar- 
endon, Charles became 
his own chief minister. 
Lauderdale, Ashley, Chf- 
ford, Buckingham, and 
Arlington were from 
time to time taken into 
his confidence, and they 
came to be known as 
the Cabal.^ 

In spite of Parlia- 
ment's fear of a mihtary 
rule, the king had al- 
ready succeeded in pro- 
viding himself with a 
small army. He had 
used the excuse of a 
fanatical outbreak in London (1661) to retain two regiments 
under arms, and he soon increased the force to five thousand 
men. In Scotland, now no longer united with England, 
Lauderdale had been active in crushing Presbyterianism, 
and had built up a standing army. 

Money, however, was necessary for the success of his 
plans, and for this Charles looked to France. Louis XIV 
met him more than half-way. Already the young French 
king was meditating those plans of aggression which made 

1 At this time Cabal meant simply a body of secret advisers. The popu- 
lar detestation which these men inspired, coupled with the accidental fact 
that their names spelt Cabal, gave the word its later odious meaning. 




Louis XIV 



Bright, II, 

739, 740- 



Green, 

pp. 617, 618, 

620. 



Louis XIV. 



340 



The Restoration and the Revolution 



Triple 

Alliance, 

1668. 



Bright, II, 

742-744. 

Green, 

pp. 621, 622. 

Treaty of 
Dover, 1670. 



Declaration 
of 

Indulgence, 
1672. 



France during the latter part of the seventeenth century 
a menace to the freedom of Europe. In 1667, while osten- 
sibly in alHance with the Dutch, he made a secret treaty 
with Charles, in which he promised to give no help to Hol- 
land, on condition of being allowed a free hand in the Spanish 
Netherlands. 

In the following year, however, Charles formed, with 
Holland and Sweden, the Triple Alliance, to put an end 
to the war between France and Spain. A strong feeling 
against the French was springing up in England, and the 
king's action was very popular. In reality, Charles was 
inspired chiefly by a desire to make Louis reahze his power. 
The result of his course was the treaty of Dover in 1670. 
By its terms the English king was to aid Louis in making 
war upon the Dutch and in dismembering the Spanish 
empire on the death of the reigning king. He was also to 
acknowledge himself a Cathohc. In return, Louis was to 
pay Charles a large pension while the war with the Dutch 
lasted, and to lend him the aid of French troops to suppress 
any opposition that might arise in England. In addition, 
England was to receive Dutch and Spanish territories, in 
case Louis succeeded in his plans. 

The treaty of Dover was kept a profound secret from 
every one except Clifford and Arlington. Its effects, how- 
ever, were at once apparent. In 1671 Charles, having 
obtained from the Commons a grant of ;^8oo,ooo, on the 
plea that money was needed to enable England to hold her 
own against France as well as Holland, prorogued Parlia- 
ment. As yet Charles dared not proclaim himself a Catho- 
lic, but early in 1672, under the disputed dispensing power, 
he issued a Declaration of Indulgence, suspending the exe- 
cution of all penal laws in matters ecclesiastical. By this 
act complete rehgious Hberty was estabhshed. Although 
done primarily in the interest of the Catholics, Dissenters 
were included in its benefits, in the hope of winning them 
over to support the government. The effect, however, was 
just the reverse. With unusual clearsightedness, the Dis- 



War with Holland 341 

senters recognized the dangerous possibilities in allowing 
the crown such arbitrary power, and they joined with church- 
men in protesting against the measure. 

War with Holland. — The Declaration of Indulgence was Bright, 11, 
followed by a declaration of war against Holland. In the 743-745- 
contest that now broke out the Dutch held their own on Green, 
the sea, but on the land they were no match for the forces pp- 622-624. 
which Louis sent against them. Holland was invaded. In 
the civil disorder that followed, the existing government 
was overthrown, and William of Orange, Charles's own 
nephew, was made Stadtholder at the age of twenty-two. 
Under his leadership the Dutch raUied to meet the in- 
vader in the heroic spirit which they had shown in their 
contest with Spain a century before. They refused to 
accept the terms offered them. In their desperation they 
cut the dikes, and laid the country under water. Louis was 
compelled to withdraw his army, and the campaign ended 
in failure. 

Lack of money now forced Charles to summon Parlia- 
ment. Fears of a Catholic reaction, doubts as to the real 
policy of the government, were agitating the country. The 
session was marked by the appearance of an organized The Country 
opposition, the Country party, as it came to be called. Al- P'"^'^' 
though sympathizing with the Dissenters, the opposition 
held that the first need was to put a check upon the arbi- 
trary tendency of the government, and opened an attack 
upon the Declaration of Indulgence. A resolution was 
passed declaring '' that penal statutes in matters ecclesias- 
tical cannot be suspended, but by consent of Parliament." 
All supplies were refused till the Declaration was recalled, 
and Charles was forced to give way. Parliament followed 
up this victory by passing a Test Act (1673) requiring all Test Act, 
holding civil or military office to receive the Sacrament ^^^^^ 
according to the forms of the Anglican Church, and to 
subscribe to a declaration rejecting the , doctrine of tran- 
substantiation. The effect of the Test Act was to exclude 
all honest Roman Catholics from office. The resignation 



343 The Restoration and Jhe Revolution 

of hundreds followed. The Duke of York gave up 
the command of the fleet, and Clifford retired from the 
Treasury. 
Green, The break-up of the Cabal followed. CHfTord withdrew 

pp. 624-628. jj^^Q private life. Ashley, now Earl of Shaftesbury, joined 
the opposition, to be followed later by Buckingham ; Ar- 
lington attached himself to the court ; Lauderdale alone con- 
tinued to hold office. 
Green, Administration of the Earl of Danby. — The course of 

pp. 628-631, affairs during the next few years was confused and un- 

632, 633. 

Brio-ht II certain. Charles, in disgust at his failure to manage Par- 

745-750.752. liament, gave the control into the hands of the Earl of 
Danby, who was thought to represent the dominant senti- 
ment of the Commons. The domestic aims of Danby were 
those of Clarendon. He wished to strengthen the mon- 
archy and maintain the supremacy of the Church of Eng- 
land over the Catholics and Dissenters. In foreign poHtics, 
however, he leaned to an alHance with the Dutch. Both in 
his domestic and in his foreign policy Danby had the 
support of a majority in Parliament and in the nation, 
but he and the king were in accord only on the question 
of the royal prerogative. Another element in the situation 
was the Country party, which under Shaftesbury con- 
tended vigorously for toleration for all Dissenters and for 
war with France. Danby wished to break off the alliance 
with France, but Charles was bribed to maintain it. The 
Country party wanted war, but it did not dare trust the king 
with an army. Louis kept Charles in his pay, but he 
doubted, and with reason, the good faith of his pensioner, 
and tried to hold him in check by intriguing with the 
leaders of the Country party. 

In 1674 a separate peace was made with Holland. The 
Country party, not content with breaking off the alliance 
with France, desired that England should join the league 
against Louis. The French king accordingly bribed Charles 
to prorogue Parliament for fifteen months. When Parlia- 
ment reassembled in 1677 it renewed the demand for war. 



The Popish Plot 343 

It refused, however, to appropriate money for the purpose, 
and demanded that Charles should disband the army which 
he had collected. At this point Louis again bought the pro- 
rogation of Parliament. Before the subsidy had been paid, 
however, Danby for the moment gained the upper hand, and 
succeeded in arranging a marriage between William, Prince Marriage 
of Orange, and Mary, the eldest daughter of the Duke of ^^""anT 
York. Louis indignantly refused to pay the promised grant, William of 

and Charles at once retahated by summoning Parliament. Orange, 

1677 
Louis now adopted new tactics. Convinced of the folly of 

relying upon Charles, he entered into an intrigue with some 
of the leaders of the Country party, with the hope of neutral- 
izing action through party dissensions. His policy was so 
successful that Charles, in disgust, turned again to Louis, 
and in 1678, signed a private treaty with the French king, 
agreeing to abandon Holland in return for a bribe of six 
million livres. The general peace which followed rendered 
Louis independent of England, and he took his revenge for 
Charles's double deahng, by making public the whole miser- 
able business. Wounded national pride called for vengeance. 
The king could not be held responsible, and the wrath of 
Parliament fell upon Danby, his unwiUing agent. To save 
his minister, Charles dissolved Parliament, which had now 
sat for seventeen years. The new Parliament was, however, 
even more determined in its assaults upon Danby. Im- impeach- 
peached by the House of Commons, the minister pleaded ^^"! ^^ 
the king's command and the king's pardon ; the plea was 
set aside, and the principle was asserted that a minister 
might not shield himself from responsibihty behind the 
order of the sovereign. If the king could do no wrong, then 
some one must be made responsible. 

The Popish Plot. — The attack upon Danby would per- Green, 
haps have been less vehement had not the disclosure of the PP- 631-633- 
king's intrigues come just at a time when the country was 
in a panic over the discovery of the so-called Popish Plot. Bright, 11, 
It was asserted that the Papists had formed a conspiracy to 750-752- 
murder the king and to place the Duke of York on the 



344 



The Restoration and the Revolution 



throne, that a French army was to invade the country, and 
that Protestantism was to be absolutely suppressed. The 
story rested on the almost unsupported statements of Titus 
Gates, a man of degraded character, once an Anglican 
clergyman, later a Jesuit priest ; but the Gunpowder Plot was 
fresh in popular remembrance, and the country was beside 
itself with fright. Men went armed, five peers declared to 
be privy to the plot were thrown into the Tower, and a 
number of Catholics were put to death. The Commons re- 
solved " that this house is of opinion that there hath been 






11 





^?tf, KjWf \ If ''-^-| y 



5 ■ 
i 



m 




Soui'H View of Hampton Court 



Disabling 
Act, 1678. 



Green, 

pp. 635-640. 
Bright, II, 
752-754. 
756-758. 



and still is a damnable and hellish plot, carried on by Papish 
recusants, for subverting the government and rooting out the 
Protestant religion." Urged on by Shaftesbury, who un- 
scrupulously encouraged belief in a plot, Parliament passed 
a Disabling Act (1678) excluding CathoHc peers from the 
House of Lords. 

Contest over the Exclusion Bill. — The fears and excite- 
ment in Parliament increased rapidly and resulted in the 
proposal of the Exclusion Bill, excluding the Duke of York 
as a Catholic from the succession. To save his brother, 
Charles dissolved Parliament, although it had sat less than 
three months. Before its dissolution, however, Parliament 



Contest over tJie Exclusion Bill 



345 



succeeded in passing the great Habeas Corpus Act, by 
which the right of trial or of Uberation was finally made 
secure. Henceforth no man was to be detained in prison 
untried. 

The elections of the summer of 1679 resulted in a Par- 
liament even more bitterly hostile to the court than the 
preceding, and Charles prorogued the new assembly seven 
times before he dared face it. In the meantime Shaftesbury 
and the Country party spared no effort to keep popular 
excitement aUve. Their avowed purpose was to press 




FROM THE River Thames in the Rekjn of Charles II 



forward the Exclusion Bill, and to estabUsh the succession 
of the Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of the king. 
Monmouth's strength lay in his popular manners and a 
reputation for loyalty to Protestantism won by his leniency 
in suppressing a recent outbreak of the Covenanters in 
Scotland. 

But signs of a reaction were becoming apparent. Popish 
Plot trials continued, but incredulity as to existence of a 
conspiracy was spreading. Petitions from the Country 
party urging the king to assemble Parliament were met by 
counter-addresses from the supporters of the divine right of 
hereditary succession expressing abhorrence of these petitions. 



Monmouth. 



346 



The Restoration and the Revolution 



Whigs and 
Tories. 



Dryden, 
Absalom Mid 
Achitophel. 



Bright, II, 

758, 759. 



Two sharply opposed parties were now apparent, known at 
first as Petitioners and Abhorrers, later as Wtiigs and Tories.^ 
In October, 1680, Parliament was at last called together. 
The Exclusion Bill was at once brought in and passed by 
the Commons, but in the House of Lords it was thrown 
out through the efforts of the Earl of Halifax. A dissolution 
followed. Conscious that the tide was turning in his favor, 
Charles called a new Parhament early in 1681. He offered 
to agree to anything short of exclusion, the duke should be 
banished, a regency should be established to carry on the gov- 
ernment in James's name, the regent should be the Prince 
of Orange. Bhnded by passion, Shaftesbury with his party 
in the Commons still urged forward the Exclusion Bill. But 
they had gone too far, the country was no longer with them, 
and they were at length forced to confess themselves beaten. 

In the one great struggle with Parhament which Charles 
risked he gained a complete victory. His triumph was due 
to the fact that in the end the people were on his side. 
The nation's disHke to a Catholic ruler was overcome by its 
fear of civil war combined with its loyalty to the principle 
of hereditary right. 

Reaction. — In the reaction that followed the defeat of the 
Country party, Charles was strong enough to take vengeance 
upon his opponents. A few of the followers of Shaftesbury 
were put to death on testimony no better than that accepted 
in the Popish Plot trials. Shaftesbury himself was charged 
with high treason, but the Grand Jury of Middlesex, before 
which the charge was brought, was strongly Whig, and the 
indictment was disregarded. To bring London and the 
other large towns, generally Whig, to terms, their charters 
were confiscated on charge of some irregularities, and 
remodelled in the Tory interest. 

The Rye House Plot. — Restless under defeat, the Whigs 
took to plotting. In 1683 some of the more unscrupulous 

1 Whig: a name applied to the Covenanters of the west of Scotland, 
from the cry of " whiggam," used with horses by the peasants of that region. 
Tory : a name given to brigands in Ireland. 



James II 347 

members of the party formed a plan to murder the king and 
his brother at a place called the Rye House. The con- 
spiracy was discovered in time, and with it was brought to 
light the plan of some of the Whigs to force the king to 
summon Parliament. The leaders were seized, and two of 
them, Lord Russell and Algernon Sydney, were tried on the 
charge of high treason, and in disregard of the law requir- 
ing two witnesses, were condemned to death. 

Death of Charles II. — The revival of loyal feeling that Bright, it. 
followed the defeat of the Exclusion Bill had not yet spent 7^°^^^ 
itself when the king died, declaring, as he had not before p. 643.' 
dared to do, his adhesion to the Roman Catholic Church. 
During the last four years of his reign, by the advice of the 
high Tories, he refrained from calHng ParHament, and 
rehed upon aid from France. The guiding principle of 
Charles's policy is indicated by the remark, commonly attrib- 
uted to him, that whatever else might happen he would not 
go again upon his travels. He had the ability to see the 
limit beyond which resistance was unsafe, and there was 
never fear that he would press a matter to the point of en- 
dangering his crown. On the whole his reign was marked 
by real constitutional progress. Charles made his minis- 
ters responsible to himself, but he was not able to prevent 
their being called to account by Parliament. Moreover, the 
establishment of political parties was a long stride toward 
Parliamentary rule. 

James II (1685-1689). — The Stuart restoration coin- Bright, 1 1, 
cided with the development in the English people of in- 763. 
tense feeling on certain subjects. An unreasoning devo- 
tion to the king and the Church was matched by an equally 
unreasoning fear and detestation of Puritans and Roman 
Catholics. Should these sentiments ever come into conflict, 
it was a question which would gain the mastery. In the 
reign of James II the question was answered. As a man 
James was more respectable than his brother, as a king he was 
more dangerous. In many ways he resembled his father. 
He had the same lack of tact and pliability, coupled with even 



34^ The Restoration and the Revolution 

less ability. James's aims were like those of Charles II, to 
make himself independent of Parliament, and to restore the 
Roman Catholic Church, but his poHcy was different. De- 
pendence on France was odious to him. If possible he 
would achieve his ends in some less humiUating way. If 
he could obtain from Parliament what he wanted, freedom 
to carry out his domestic policy and plenty of money, he 
would throw England into the scale against France. Only 
as a last resort would he become a pensioner of Louis. 

The Tory Parliament. — James met his first Parliament on 
the 19th of May, 1685. The Tories were in an immense 
majority. This was due in part to the remodelled corpora- 
tions (p. 346), but still more to the strength of the royal 
feeling throughout the country. A revenue even larger 
than that enjoyed by the late king was granted James for 
Hfe. 

Events that followed quickly upon the opening of the ses- 
sion tended to strengthen the king with Parhament and with 
the nation. During the preceding reign a group of Scotch 
Bright, II, and English exiles had gathered in Holland. They now 
764-768. planned a simultaneous invasion of Scotland and England 

pp. 644, 645. under the leadership of the Earl of Argyle and the Duke of 
Monmouth. It was thought that the Presbyterian- interest 
Monmouth's and Argyle's own clansmen would join him in attacking 

rebeihon, James's government. Monmouth's reliance was in the Dis- 

1685. -' ° 

senters and the extreme Protestant party. Both expedi- 
tions ended in failure. Argyle had already met his over- 
throw in the Highlands when Monmouth landed in the west 
of England. The duke was well received by the common 
people, but he found Httle support among substantial men, 
and on Sedgemoor his forces were completely defeated 
by the royal army. Monmouth was taken prisoner and 
put to death. Jeffreys, one of the judges noted for his 
ferocity, was sent to the western counties to take revenge 
upon the duke's unhappy followers. His cruel circuit has 
received the name of the Bloody Assizes, but the king 
rewarded his work with the chancellorship. 



Despotism of James 349 

Despotism of James. — The ease with which Argyle and Bright, 1 1, 
Monmouth were crushed gave James confidence. He felt 768-772, 
that he might proceed openly with his plans. Accordingly 
he increased his army and appointed Roman Catholics to 
commands, although they could not take the path. When 
Parliament reassembled in November he urged forward the 
repeal of the Test Act, but a strong opposition became 
manifest in both Houses, and James prorogued Parliament. 

Undeterred by his failure to obtain the support of the Tory Green, 
and High Church party, James went boldly on with his plans PP- 646-650. 
for a Roman Catholic restoration. He made free use of the 
much-disputed right of dispensing with the execution of the 
laws in individual cases. In order to get a legal decision 
in his favor, he caused a suit to be brought against Sir 
Edmund Hales, a Romanist officer, who had refused to take 
the test. Hales produced a royal dispensation, and the 
Bench, which had been carefully packed, decided in sup- 
port of the king's claim. 

Strengthened by this decision, James proceeded to ap- 
point Catholics to high church and university offices. To 
enforce his will upon the clergy, he estabhshed the Ecclesi- 
astical Commission Court, with Jeffreys at its head. A small 
riot in London was made the excuse for establishing a per- 
manent encampment of troops on Hounslow Heath. Mean- 
time a struggle that had been going on among the king's 
supporters ended in the triumph of the Earl of Sunderland 
and the extreme Catholics. The Earl of Rochester, who 
represented the party of the Protestants and moderate 
Catholics, was dismissed from office because he would not 
change his belief. At the same time, Tyrconnel, leader of 
the Irish Cathohcs, was made lord Heutenant of Ireland, 
in place of Clarendon, Rochester's brother. 

Urged on by his new advisers, James determined on more General 
sweeping measures. On the 4th of April, 1687, he issued Declaration 
a general Declaration of Indulgence suspending all penal j^^j^^, 
laws and religious tests. Self-interest, he thought, would 1687. 
insure the support of the Dissenters to the measure, but in 



350 



The Restoration a7id the Revolution 



Bright, II, 



Universities. 



this he was mistaken. The larger part of the dissenting 
body expressed strong disapproval of the action. The 
Attack on the attack upon the Universities became more violent. At 
Cambridge the vice-chancellor was dismissed from office for 
refusing to give the degree of Master of Arts to a Bene- 
dictine monk who had refused to take the test. At Oxford 
the Fellows of Magdalen were directed to elect to the 
vacant headship of the college a Catholic nominee of the 




HfiMix bif XMeamo J'^jL 



St. John's College, Cambridge 

From an old print 



crown. On their refusal to do this, they were turned out 
of doors and their places filled with Roman Catholics. 

Blind to the growing discontent, James made one more 
attempt to procure from Parliament the repeal of the Test 
Act. The existing House was dissolved, and no pains were 
spared to pack the new one. The corporations were again 
remodelled so as to secure the return of Catholics and Dis- 
senters. The lords-lieutenant of the counties were asked 
to aid the king in securing the election of candidates who 



Negotiations with William of Orange 351 

would vote for repeal. It soon became plain that neither 
towns nor counties could be trusted to do the king's 
bidding, and the design of convening ParHament was 
abandoned. 

The Trial of the Seven Bishops. — James seemed deter- Bright, 11, 
mined to aUenate all his supporters. In April, 1688, he 777-779- 
issued a second Declaration of Indulgence, which he or- pp^ 5^0, 651. 
dered to be read in all the churches. The clergy had 
preached the doctrine of non-resistance with great vigor, 
but now they hesitated to obey. When the day appointed 
for the reading arrived, the churches were thronged. Most 
of the country clergy refused to obey the king's order ; only 
four of the London clergy attempted to read the Declara- 
tion, and at the first words their congregations left the 
church. 

A few days before the appointed Sunday seven bishops, 
including the primate, presented a respectful petition to the 
king, praying that they might be freed from the necessity 
of breaking the law by reading an illegal declaration. James 
called the petition " a standard of rebellion," and caused the 
bishops to be brought before the King's Bench on the charge 
of pubHshing a seditious libel. The excitement was tremen- 
dous. The streets outside Westminster Hall, where the trial 
was held, were filled with anxious crowds. James felt sure 
of both judges and jury, but to his chagrin a verdict of 
not guilty was brought in. The result was received with 
great rejoicing : even the soldiers on Hounslow Heath 
shouted with the rest. 

Negotiations with William of Orange. — In spite of the 
victory gained in the acquittal of the bishops, matters had 
not really taken a turn for the better. The patience which 
the nation had shown was chiefly due to its hope of seeing 
an end of its troubles, for James's only children were daugh- 
ters, and loyal to the Protestant faith. But while the fate 
of the bishops was still undecided, the queen gave birth to Birth of a 
a son, and at once the aspect of affairs changed. So oppor- P""^^- 
tune for James's plans was the birth of the young prince, that 



352 



The Resto7'ation and the Revolution 



the child was popularly, although falsely, held to be suppo- 
sititious. But, whatever the feeling among the people, he 
was presented to the country as the heir to the throne, and 
he was sure to be brought up a Catholic. The day of the 
acquittal of the bishops, a letter, signed by seven prominent 
Whigs and Tories, was sent to WiUiam of Orange, husband 




Green, 

pp. 651-659. 

Bright, II, 
779-782. 



The Cittie of Limerick 

O'Grady, Pacata Hibernia, or A History of the Wars in Ireland 

of Princess Mary, asking him to come to the rescue of 
English liberty. 

William of Orange was the leading Protestant statesman 
of Europe. He had thrown himself heart and soul into 
the struggle against France, and was strongly desirous of 
securing the cooperation of England. The opportunity was 
tempting, but the difficulties in the way were great ; English 
national feehng, Dutch jealousy, the opposition of his Cath- 
olic allies on the Continent, were all to be met. The un- 
bridled ambition of Louis and the boundless stupidity of 




9 Longitude 8 



6 Greenwich 5 



SORMAV 4 CO.jENSR'S.N.Yi 



^Hf-: 



The Revolution of 1688 353 

James combined to smooth his way. By attacking the trade 
of Holland Louis insured to William the support of the 
Dutch. By quarrelling with the Pope he connected for the 
moment the interests of the Roman Catholic Church with 
William's success. In England James crowned a long series 
of blunders and alienated the army by bringing over Irish 
Catholic troops. At last the king had succeeded in driving 
ail elements of the nation into opposition. Tories and 
Whigs, the Church, the Dissenters, the universities, country 
and town, all alike now understood that poHtical freedom, 
the Protestant faith, the national honor, were in danger so 
long as James was on the throne. 

The Revolution of 1688. — William no longer hesitated. Bright, 11, 
Before setting sail he issued a manifesto which summed up 783-789. 
James's unconstitutional acts, and stated that as the husband ppf 659-661. 
of Princess Mary he was coming to England with an armed 
force to secure a free and legal Parliament, by whose 
decision he would abide. 

James had obstinately closed his eyes to what was passing. 
Forced at length to see his danger, he made concessions right 
and left. But it was too late. On the 5th of November 
William landed at Torbay and proceeded slowly toward 
London. He was joined by one after another of the leading 
statesmen and generals. Even the Princess Anne threw in 
her lot with the rebels. James found himself almost alone, 
and with the fate of his father before his eyes he fled in dis- 
guise to France, where he was most respectfully received 
by Louis. 

It was necessary to provide without delay for the settle- 
ment of the government, and election writs were issued in 
William's name. When the convention came together, the 
Commons passed a resolution declaring that " King James 
II, having endeavoured to subvert the Constitution of 
the kingdom by breaking the original contract between 
King and people, and, by the advice of Jesuits and other 
wicked people, having violated the fundamental laws, and 
having withdrawn himself out of the kingdom, had abdicated 

2 A 



354 



The Restoration and the Revolution 



Declaration 
of Right, 
see p, 362. 



Bright, II, 
790-804. 

Macaulay, 
Hist, of 
Efigland, 
ch. III. 



Traill, IV, 
472-477. 



the Government, and that the throne had thereby become 
vacant." After some debate the Lords accepted the terms 
of the Commons' resolution. A Declaration of Right was 
drawn up, reciting the misgovernraent of James, and assert- 
ing the rights and liberties of the English people. The two 
Houses then joined in offering the crown to William and 
Mary as joint sovereigns, the actual administration of the 
government, however, to rest with WiUiam. 

England at the Close of the Seventeenth Century. — Eng- 
land's real religious reformation and her greatest political 
revolution came within a space of less than one hundred 
years. For almost a century the national energies had been 
concentrated in the two channels of politics and religion. 
Literature was dominated by these interests. In Bacon, 
Hobbes, Filmer, Locke, in Milton and Bunyan, the national 
earnestness found full expression. Milton, the secretary of 
Cromwell, the great Puritan poet serving the great Puritan 
statesman, typifies the close connection between the world 
of thought and the world of letters. 

Social and industrial interests were forced into the back- 
ground by the strenuous political and religious activity. 
During the civil wars, the half-feudal conditions that con- 
trolled class relations under the early Stuarts disappeared, 
and by the end of the century, society had assumed a 
modern character. The mediaeval baron had given place 
to the modern nobleman. The country gentry and the 
rural clergy, united by many interests, formed the influen- 
tial class. The small freeholders were slowly losing ground, 
but were still an important element in the life of the 
country. Below them, unrepresented and ignored, were 
the farmers, laborers, and artisans. - A counterpoise to the 
power of the landed interest was the commercial class rap- 
idly growing in wealth and political importance. One of 
the most important social and political features of the time 
was the presence of the large body of Dissenters, active and 
intelligent, and forced apart from the rest of the nation by 
the intolerant attitude of the Church. London had become 



England at Close of Seventeenth Century 355 



to a degree before unknown the centre of political and 
intellectual interests. Men of prominence in all pursuits 
flocked thither, congregating at the coffee-houses/ which 
answered the purpose of the clubs of to-day. 

The industrial history of the seventeenth century offers 
httle that is noteworthy. The disorders of the Civil War 
caused a rise in prices which was made good only in part by 
the rise in wages. On the whole, however, there was but 
Httle economic disturbance. Agriculture showed some im- 
provement under the early Stuarts, due to the impetus Train, iv, 
given by the Tudors. The draining of the fens was the ^^2-121. 
great achievement of the time.^ During the first part of the 
century there was some progress in manufacturing. Tlie 
woollen industry prospered. The iron mines of Sussex were 
worked to a considerable extent, but smelting was hampered 
by the increasing scarcity of wood. As yet the use of pit 
coal as fuel was not generally understood. There was but 
little development in domestic trade, owing mainly to the 
few and bad roads. Foreign trade was chiefly in the hands 
of the Londoners, In accordance with the prevailing 
economic theories there was much regulation of trade, and 
home industries and national commerce were fostered by 
efforts to crush out foreign or colonial rivalry. 

1 Coffee was introduced into England in the reign of Charles II. 

2 The great fens extending into six of the eastern counties were drained 
and reclaimed in the reign of Charles I, 





Medal struck after the Revolution of William and Mary 



35^ The Restoration and the Revolution 



Important Events 

Charles II, 1660-1685. 

The Cavalier Parliament, 1661-1679, 

Act of Uniformity, 1662. 

War with Holland, 1665- 1667. 

Fall of Clarendon, 1667. 

Treaty of Dover, 1670. 

Declaration of Indulgence, 1672. 

Test Act, 1673. 

The Popish Plot, 1678. 

Contest over the Exclusion Bill, 1679-1681. 

James II, 1685-1689. 

Sedgemoor, 1685. 

The judges declare for the king's dispensing power, 1686. 

Second Declaration of Indulgence, 1688. 

Birth of the son of James II, 1688. 

Acquittal of the seven bishops, 1688. 

Landing of William of Orange, 1688. 

The crown accepted by William and Mary, 1689. 



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CHAPTER XII 

PARTIES AND PARTY GOVERNMENT 

Books for Consultation 

Sources 

Bolingbroke, Correspoitdeuce. 

Walpole, H.j Memoirs of the Reign of George II. 

Rockingham, Memoirs. 

The CrenviUe Papers. 

Correspondence of George III with lord N^orth. 

Cornwallis, Correspondence. 

Special Authorities 

Hallam, Constitutional History of England. 

May, Constitutional History of England. 

Macaulay, History of England. 

Lecky, History of England in the Eighteenth Century. 

Traill, William III. 

Morley, Walpole, Chatham (in preparation). 

Trevelyan, life of Charles James Fox. 

Morley, Edmund Burke. 

Rosebery, Pitt. l^ 

Macaulay, Essays on Chatham. 

Goldwin Smith, Pitt (in Three English Statesmen). 

Imaginative Liteil\ture 

Thackeray, Esmond. 

Scott, Waverley. 



Bright. Ill, Results of the Revolution of 1688. — The Revokition of 

806. 807. j^gg ^^^^Y^ ti-^e overthrow of the Stuart theory of the divine 

right of kings, and the triumph of the Whig principle that 

the king rules by the will of the people. In the place of an 

absolute sovereign was estabhshed a supreme Parliament, 

358 



Results of the Revolution of 1688 359 

the representative of the nation ; and government by pre- 
rogative gave way to the rule of law. The work was well 
done; arbitrary taxation and arbitrary legislation could 
neve/ again be attempted. Little, in fact, was left for the 
next century to accomplish except to adjust the machinery 
of government to the new controlling principles. Thor- 
ough as was the Revolution, it was, nevertheless, essentially ^hamcter 
conservative and practical. The extravagances of the Re- ^J^'o^lution. 
belhon had made men cautious. All unnecessary change 
was deprecated. Nothing was attacked that could safely 
be retained, and there was no theorizing. In sharp con- 
trast with the earlier movement was the peaceful character 
of this deposition. For the moment James had no party. 
With unparalleled stupidity he had united all parties 
against himself, and their force was so overwhelming that 
he did not dare make a stand. Without bloodshed, with 
but Uttle excitement, a king was deposed, and another 
ruler set in his place, and the whole conception of the 
government changed. 

The Revolution was accomplished in the space of a few 
weeks. To carry into effect what had been gained was the 
work of the eighteenth century. The natural consequence 
of the supremacy of Parliament was Parliamentary control 
of the executive, the transformation of the ministers of the 
king into national ministers, responsible to the people, not 
to the sovereign, and all-powerful if secure of popular sup- 
port. This was not at first reaUzed. Still less was the 
means of bringing the will of the people to bear upon the 
government understood. More than a century of blind, 
stumbling experiment was necessary to work out and estab- 
lish in completeness Cabinet government ; that is, govern- ^^^^J^^^^^^ 
ment by a council of ministers holding the same poUtical govemmen . 
opinions, acting as a unit, in harmony with the domi- 
nant party in the House of Commons, standing or falling, 
not at the pleasure of the king, but in accordance with 
the will of the nation as expressed through its representa- 
tives. 




BORMAY & CO., EN3R'S, N.T> 



William III 361 

Parties and the Revolution. — Although James II was 
overthrown by a combination of Whigs and Tories, the Rev- 
olution was essentially a Whig movement. The cooperation 
of the Tories was accidental and temporary. Out of loyalty 
to one principle they did violence to another. They re- 
sisted the king to save the Church. That did not mean, 
however, that they had abandoned the doctrine of inde- 
feasible hereditary right. For a generation to come the 
Tory party remained Jacobite, that is to say Stuart, in ten- Tories and 
dency. Just so long as there was a Catholic pretender in J^cobitism. 
the background the contradiction between the Tory prin- 
ciples would divide and weaken the party. The position of 
the Whigs, on the other hand, was simple. In their hands, 
resistance to James had been made to mean constitutional 
liberty and religious toleration, the cardinal points of the 
Whig doctrine. Accordingly their work was simply the 
maintenance of the Revolution settlement. 

In fighting strength the two parties were not unequal. 
On the side of the Tories were the country gentry and the 
Church, never since the Reformation so powerful as now. 
The strength of the Whigs lay in the great nobles, the Dis- 
senters, and the commercial classes. The Tories were 
more numerous, but the Whigs were strong through good 
leadership, fine organization, and the high intelligence of 
the mass of the party. 

William III (1689-1702) and the Revolution Settlement. Bright, iii, 
— The establishment of the new government was attended 2°75 811. 
with many difficulties. The unanimity of the nation in pp, 665-668. 
support of the Revolution soon came to an end. James's 
repeated assaults upon the Church had led the clergy to 
disregard, for a moment, the doctrine of passive obedience, 
which, for a generation, they had vigorously preached ; but 
the overthrow of the house of Stuart was quickly followed 
by a reaction in its favor among churchmen. The require- 
ment that all of the clergy should take the oath of allegiance 
forced the growing disaffection to the Revolution into open 
hostility. Between three hundred and four hundred of the 



362 



Parties and Party Government 



Bright, ITI, 

808-810. 



The Bill of 
Rights, 
Old South 
Leaflets, 
No. 19. 

Toleration 
Act, 1689. 



Bright, II, 

772-774; III, 

812-817, 

826-830. 

Green, 

pp. 664, 665, 

669-671. 



clergy, including the primate and six of the bishops, refused 
to take the oath and were deprived of their preferments. 
These Nonjurors, as they were called, were now to be 
counted as enemies to the new order. 

To overturn the despotism of James, Whigs and Tories 
had joined hands, but success at once brought out the old 
differences of opinion. Gratitude and self-interest bound 
William to the Whigs, to whose efforts he chiefly owed his 
crown, but he was unwilling to be a mere party leader. 
Moreover, although resolved to rule constitutionally, he 
had no miiid to become simply a figure-head, and he 
naturally inclined to the Tory party with its higher views 
of the royal prerogative. He attempted, therefore, to rule 
by the support of both parties, and included in his ministry 
both Whigs and Tories. The impracticabihty of this method 
was not at first realized, but the friction it caused soon 
became apparent. 

Parliament proceeded to pass some important measures. 
The Declaration of Rights was reissued as the Bill of Rights. 
In spite of the protest of the Church, the Dissenters were 
rewarded for their support of the Revolution with the Tol- 
eration Act, which gave liberty of worship to all except 
Unitarians and Roman Catholics. It was not a' generous 
measure ; toleration, not equality, was granted, and much of 
the penal legislation of Charles II remained in force. In 
this and the following Parliament the public revenue was 
settled. Certain taxes were granted to the king for life for. 
the support of the crown,^ others for the maintenance of 
the government were granted for a limited time only. The 
separation of the grants for the royal expenditure from the 
appropriations for carrying on the government was of great 
constitutional importance. 

Ireland and the Revolution. — When the Revolution broke 
out, Ireland, as was natural, espoused the cause of James. 
The restoration of Charles II had brought some relief to 
the Irish Catholics. It is true that the Act of Settlement 

1 This grant formed the origin of the Civil List. 



Ireland and the Revolutiojt 



363 



(1661) had confirmed most of the land grants made under 
Cromwell. As a result, the Protestants were left in posses- 
sion of almost three-fourths of the good lands in Ireland, 
while before 1641 about two-thirds of such lands were still 
in the hands of the Cathohcs. Nevertheless, the years that 
followed the return of the Stuarts were, on the whole, 
prosperous. There was religious toleration, and the rule of 
the government was mild. During his short reign, James 
had done much to restore the ascendency of the Papists. 
Tyrconnel, a Romanist, was at the head of the govern- 
ment, the municipal charters were remodelled in the in- 
terest of the CathoHc party, and an Irish Catholic army 
was organized. 

When WilHam landed in England, the Irish at once rose 
in support of James. Many of the English fled from the 
country, those remaining threw themselves into the few 
strong places hke Londonderry and Enniskillen. Tyrconnel 
and his army swept over the land, destroying the property 
of the Protestants. Except for Londonderry and Ennis- 
killen, now closely invested, all Ireland was in revolt against 
the English government. James took courage. Accom- 
panied by a few French officers he crossed over from 
France, and a Parhament was summoned in Dublin, which, Parliament 
as was to be expected, contained few but Catholics. It pro- ^^ Dublin, 
ceeded at once to repeal the Act of Settlement and to pass 
an Act of Attainder including between two thousand and 
three thousand of the leading Enghshmen in the country. 
On the other hand, it established perfect religious liberty. 

At first WiUiam III showed little energy in attempt- 
ing to assert his authority in Ireland. Londonderry and 
Enniskillen still held out, but in Londonderry the popula- 
tion was reduced to the last straits. Finally in July, 1689, an 
Enghsh fleet succeeded in forcing its way up the river Foyle Relief of 
and Londonderry was saved, after a siege of one hundred ^^"y""" 
and five days. Early in 1690 the king, glad to turn his 
back on the faction struggles of the Whigs and Tories, 
crossed to Ireland. In July he fought the battle of the 



364 Parties and Party Government 

Boyne. The Irish suffered overwhehning defeat, and James, 
giving up his cause for lost, fled to France. For a year 
longer the Irish kept up the struggle, but in October, 1691, 
Limerick was forced to surrender, and this brought the 
Treaty of war to an end. By the treaty of Limerick, the Catholics 
Limerick. were promised such liberties as they had enjoyed under 
Charles II, and amnesty was guaranteed for all who took the 
oath of allegiance. To the shame of England the promise 
with regard to the Catholics was not kept. 
Bright, III, The Revolution in Scotland. — In Scotland, as in Ireland, 

817-821, 834- ^/iiiiai-Q was forced to fight for his crown, but the opposition 
which he met in the north was not national, as in Ireland. 
The return of the Stuarts had been followed by the over- 
throw of the Presbyterian Church and the estabhshment of 
Green, Episcopacy. All resistance was relentlessly crushed out. 

pp. 663, 664. ^g ^ result the Revolution found strong support among the 
Scotch. A Claim of Right, similar to the English Decla- 
ration of Right, was adopted by the Scottish Parliament. 
The crown was offered to William and accepted by him. 
Presbyterianism was again established. 

The Highlands had taken httle part in the overthrow of 
the Stuarts. The clansmen were lawless and half savage, 
and their politics were chiefly local. Many of the clans 
were at this time bitterly hostile to the great Campbell 
family, and the fact that Argyle, the head of the Campbells, 
was a Whig, was sufficient reason for championing the 
Stuarts. Dundee, one of James's supporters, made use of 
this feeling to stir up the Highlanders to resist the new 
government. An English army was sent against them, and 
the two forces met in the Pass of Killiecrankie. Dundee 
was killed, but his followers succeeded in defeating the Eng- 
lish, who were hampered in attempting to use the bayonet^ at 
close quarters. Deprived of their leader, the Highlanders 
returned to their homes, and in 1691 the distribution of a 
large sum of money among the chiefs of the clans brought 
them one by one to submit to the new government. 

1 A new French invention. 




4 LongUude East 5 from Greenwich 6 



BOBMAY iCO., ENSR'8, N.Y. 



366 



Parties and Party Govermnent 



Green, 

pp. 662, 671- 
673, 676. 
Bright, III, 
811, 831,836- 
838, 846-848, 
856-859. 



La Hogue, 
1692. 



Peace of 
Ryswick, 
1697. 



France and the Coalition. — William had not forgotten 
continental affairs. He had accepted the English crown 
largely that he might throw England into the scales against 
France. The French attack upon Ireland gave just grounds 
for action, and in 1689 Parliament declared war. The same 
step had already been taken by the Empire, Austria, Spain, 
Holland, and Brandenburg. At last all Europe had com- 
bined against Louis, whose only ally was the Turk. Never- 
theless for a time France held her own against the unwieldy 
coalition, and it was not until 1692 that her career of 
success was checked. In that year Louis XIV planned an 
invasion of England, which, if successful, would restore to 
James his crown, and detach England from the coalition. 
But the undertaking ended in failure. In the great battle 
of La Hogue (1692) the French fleet was completely de- 
stroyed by the EngHsh under Admiral Russell. On land 
Louis was still victorious. The rival armies fought in Spain, 
in Italy, along the Rhine, in the Netherlands ; and at every 
ppint the French maintained their ground. At last in 1695 
the tide began to turn. Namur fell ; for the first time in 
fifty-two years the French met with a reverse. France was 
becoming exhausted by the burden of years of war, and 
Louis was anxious to bring the struggle to a close.- Peace 
negotiations were finally opened. The French king offered 
reasonable terms, but the coalition held off. Wilham, how- 
ever, saw the wisdom and justice of treating on the con- 
ditions proposed, and in 1697 a general peace was signed at 
Ryswick. Louis acknowledged Wilham as king, and gave 
back all the conquests of the war. At last a check was 
imposed on the aggression of the French. 

Jacobitism. — While carrying on the war with France, 
William was hampered by many difficulties at home. En- 
thusiasm for the Revolution soon cooled. William's cold, 
reserved manners and his undisguised preference for Holland 
made him personally unpopular. The favors showered upon 
the Dutch followers of the king alienated many. The war 
entailed heavy taxation and hampered commerce, and there 



The Whig Ministry 367 

was a strong feeling that England's interests were sacrificed 
for the sake of William's continental possessions. James's 
supporters, the Jacobites, were untiring in their efforts to Bright, 111, 
overthrow the Revolution settlement. The government was ^2^' ^^3- 
honeycombed with intrigue and treachery. Some even of the 
king's ministers, including Admiral Russell and Churchill, 
Earl of Marlborough, entered into negotiations with James. 
Twice an invasion by the French cooperating with the 
Jacobites was attempted, and a plot to assassinate William 
was wellnigh successful. 

The Whig Ministry. — In the government there was much Green, 
disorder and corruption. Parliament did nothing to better PP" ^73-675- 
the situation, for neither party felt responsible for the admin- 
istration. In the House of Commons there was no assured 
majority. One day so many Wliigs would be off at tennis or 
a cockfight that the Tories had everything their own way, 
but the following day conditions might be reversed. Parha- 
ment was supreme, but it was as yet unorganized. Sunder- 
land, once the chief counsellor of James II, suggested a 
remedy for these disorders. By his advice, the king gradu- Party respon- 
ally excluded from his ministry all but Whigs, in order that ^ibihty. 
one party alone being represented in the government, poHtical 
responsibility might be fixed and a stable support secured. 
The Whig ministry of 1696 was the first homogeneous min- Bright, ill, 
istry in English history.^ Its leading members, popularly ^42. 
known as the Junto, were Wharton, a man of great ability The junto, 
but of the worst character, Russell, the victor at La Hogue, 
Somers, who was prominent in the bishops' trial, and Mon- 
tague, distinguished in literature and finance. 

In spite of the factious behavior of Parliament several Bright, ill, 
important measures were carried.^ Through clipping, the ^4°. 843. 849- 

1 It was the first recognition of the principle that the cooperation of the 
Commons could best be secured through a ministry acting as a unit in 
representing the dominant opinions of the House. 

2 Through the influence of Montague, a government loan was estab- 
lished. This is held to be the origin of the National Debt, as it was the 
first loan upon which the interest was steadily paid. In 1694 the B^nk of 
England was established. The effect of these two measures was to interest 
the moneyed classes in the maintenance of the Revolution Settlement. 



368 



Parties and Party Government 



Triennial 
Act, 1694. 



Bright, III, 
859, 860, 864. 



Bright, III, 
870. 



Act of Settle- 
ment, 
Old South 
Leaflets, 
No. 19. 
Bright, III, 
871. 



currency of the realm had fallen to but little more than half 
its proper weight, and in 1696 by the efforts of Montague, 
aided by Sir Isaac Newton, a comprehensive scheme of 
restoration was successfully carried out. A measure of great 
constitutional importance was the passage of a new Triennial 
Bill, which Hmited the life of a Parliament to three years. 
Finally, the refusal of Parliament to renew the Licensing Act 
in 1695 established the hberty of the press.^ 

The Tory Reaction. — Supported by the Whigs, William 
carried the struggle against France through to a triumphant 
conclusion, but the signing of the peace was at once followed 
by a renewal of his difficulties with Parliament. The horror 
of a standing army was ingrained in Englishmen at this 
time, and with the aid of some malcontent Whigs the Tory 
party succeeded in passing an act reducing the army to seven 
thousand men, and requiring that these seven thousand should 
be Enghsh born. William felt keenly the danger of so great 
a reduction of the forces in the unsettled state of European 
politics, and he was touched to the quick by the attack upon 
his favorite Dutch guards. He was with difficulty prevented 
from abdicating. The next step of the opposition was to 
attack the royal ministers. The -Junto was broken up, and 
in 1700 William was forced to form a Tory ministry. The 
new ParHament, elected in accordance with the Triennial 
Act, was strongly Tory. 

The government was now in the hands of the Tory party. 
There was no desire to undo the work of the Revolution, 
and in 1701 Parliament passed the Act of Settlement, giving 
the succession after the death of Anne, who was now child- 
less, to the Electress of Hanover, granddaughter of James I, 
and to her descendants. The choice of Sophia was deter- 
mined by the fact that she was the nearest Protestant heir. 
Additional articles of the Act of Settlement stipulated that 

1 The newspaper dates from the reign of James I. The first daily paper 
appeared in 1709. During the seventeenth century Ucensing acts gave the 
government complete control of printing, and it was not until the reign of 
George III that public affairs and parliamentary proceedings were freely 
discussed by the press. 



Anne 369 

henceforth judges should hold office, not at the king's 
pleasure, but during good behavior, and that the royal 
pardon should not bar an impeachment. 

The Spanish Succession. — The Tory party was committed 
to a peace policy, and it showed no wilhngness to support 
the king in renewing the struggle against France, and yet 
that now seemed necessary if William's work was not to 
be all undone. In 1 700 Charles II of Spain died. Louis 
XIV had long been intriguing to secure the Spanish in- 
heritance for one of his family. To arrest this danger, Green, 
William had endeavored to arrange a division of the Span- ^P- ^76-680. 
ish possessions among the claimants to the throne, and had 
concluded two partition treaties with Louis to this intent. 
By Charles's will, however, Philip of Anjou, grandson of the 
French king, was declared heir to the whole of the Spanish 
territories. In defiance of all pledges Louis accepted the 
inheritance for his grandson. Again France seemed to 
menace the freedom of Europe, but in face of the Tory 
opposition William was powerless to interfere. 

Just at this moment the French king took a step which 
united all England against him. In 1701 James II died, Death of 
and Louis at once acknowledsjed as king of England the J^"^^^ ^l. 

<j o I70I. 

young prince, James Edward, commonly known as the Pre- 
tender. A storm of indignation swept over England. Wil- Bright, ill, 
liam used the opportunity to dissolve Parhament, and the ^^3. 874. 
elections resulted in a Whig majority. An act was passed 
requiring all holders of office in Church and State to take an 
oath abjuring the house of Stuart. War was now certain. 
In the moment of his triumph William died. 

Anne (1702-1714). — Anne Stuart was a good-hearted 
and rather commonplace woman, passionately loyal to the 
Church of England and hostile to Dissenters and Papists 
alike. A revival of the Tory party followed Anne's succes- 
sion. Her sympathies were with the Tories, and the new 
ministry, under Lord Godolphin, was drawn almost entirely 
from the Tory party. During the first part of the reign Green, 
Marlborough was the real ruler of England, so complete was PP- 680-682. 
2 B 



370 Parties ajid Party Goveminent 

Bright, III, the ascendency which he and his wife had acquired over 
874-877. ^i^g queen. Circumstances rather than principle deter- 

mined Marlborough's politics, and for the time being he 
became a Tory. 
Green, The War of the Spanish Succession. — In the spring of 

pp. 682-687, J ^Q2 the war so ardently desired by William III be^an. 
689, 690. •' 

France and Spain were pitted against England, Holland, 

Austria, and the Empire. The coalition was guided by the 
unrivalled military genius of Marlborough. The war was 
Bright, III, carried on at sea, as well as on land. There was fighting 
877-903. |j^ ^u ^^ disputed territory, in Spain, in Italy, in Germany, 

and in the Spanish Netherlands. The struggle even crossed 
the Atlantic and involved the French and English colonies 
in the New World. 

During the first two years of war Marlborough was occu- 
pied in securing the Dutch against attack by way of the 
Rhine or the Spanish Netherlands, while in Italy, Prince 
Eugene, commander of the Austrians, strove to hold back 
the French. The most important fighting in 1 704 was on 
the Upper Danube. Marlborough and Eugene had joined 
forces, and together they sacceeded in inflicting an over- 
Blenheim, whelming defeat upon the French at Blenheim. The same 
1704- yg^j. Gibraltar was surprised and captured by an- English 

force. In 1 706, Marlborough won the victory of .Ramilhes, 
leaving the French scarcely a foothold in the Spanish 
Netherlands. At the same time, through the efforts of 
Prince Eugene, they were swept from Italy. During the 
next two years, with many alternations of success and 
failure, the allies slowly gained ground. France was be- 
coming exhausted. The defeat of Oudenarde and the fall 
of Lille (1708) forced Louis to sue for peace. He offered 
to yield every point for which the war had been fought. He 
agreed to withdraw aid from his grandson, to acknowledge 
Anne, to expel the Pretender from French territory. But 
when, in opposition to Marlborough's advice, the aUies in- 
sisted that Louis should join with them in driving Philip 
from Spain, the Great King drew back. " If I must wage 



Fall of the Whigs 371 

war," he said, " I would rather wage it against my enemies 
than against my children." 

Marlborough and the Whigs. — Marlborough's chief in- Green, 
terest in English politics was to secure support in carrying ^^' ^~ ^^' 
on the war. At first he had rehed upon the Tories, but he 
was gradually forced to act with the Whigs. The extreme Bright, ill, 
Tories disliked the war and were determined that England 908-915- 
should restrict her part in it to defensive operations. More- 
over, their attempts to maintain the exclusive suprem- 
acy of the English Church weakened the government by 
alienating the Dissenters. In 1703 and 1704 the ministry 
was remodelled so as to include moderate men of both par- 
ties. Among the new Tory ministers was St. John, perhaps 
the ablest and most unscrupulous politician of the time. 
The popularity of the war and the divisions among the 
Tories secured a majority for the Whig party in the elections 
of 1705, and the election of 1708 strengthened their posi- 
tion. Every change in the ministry was in their interest, 
and finally, in 1708, an exclusively Whig Cabinet under 
Marlborough and Godolphin was established. 

It was with great difficulty that the queen was brought to 
the point of accepting the Whig ministers. She was no 
longer under Marlborough's influence and she hated the 
Whigs as the foes of the Church and of the royal preroga- 
tive. Every change in the ministry which tended to in- 
crease their ascendency met with her bitter opposition. 
The Whig ministry of 1 708 was therefore a Cabinet resting 
upon a majority in Parliament and imposing its will upon 
the crown. 

Fall of the Whigs. — The triumph, of the Whigs was of 
brief duration. After the failure of the peace negotiations 
of 1709 war was renewed. At Malplaquet (1709) the 
aUied forces under Marlborough and Eugene succeeded in 
again defeating the French, though with tremendous loss 
of life. But England was growing weary of the war. The 
rejection of the French terms of peace was unjustly attrib- 
uted to Marlborough's desire to continue a contest which 



372 Parties and Party Government 

gave him power and importance. Since the fate of the 
Whigs was closely bound up with the war, they began to 
lose ground. Their ruin was completed by the unwise 
measures of the ministry against Dr. Sacheverell, who, in a 
sermon at St. Paul's, upheld the doctrine of non-resistance 
and attacked toleration and the Dissenters. The Whigs 
desired an opportunity for formally stating their views on 
the Revolution principles of resistance and toleration, and 
Impeach- Sacheverell was solemnly impeached before the House of 
^^^^ ° Lords (1710). The matter was taken up by the whole 

1710. ' country. There was a tremendous outburst of enthusiasm 

for the Church and the principle of legitimacy. The House 
of Lords declared Sacheverell guilty, but dared do no more 
than to prohibit him from preaching for three years and to 
order his sermons to be burnt. 

The result of the trial was regarded as a Tory triumph. 
Sure of the support of the country, the queen now ventured 
to act in accordance with her feehngs. The Whigs were 
dismissed from office and a purely Tory ministry under Har- 
ley and St. John was formed. The election of 1710 resulted 
in a strong majority for the Tories, and during the remainder 
of Anne's reign their ascendency was unshaken. 
Bright, III, The Union of England and Scotland. — The renewal of the 

924-928. union of Scotland and England as estabhshed under the 

Green, ^ 

pp. 687-689. Commonwealth was strongly favored by the government 
after the Revolution. There were great difficulties in the 
way, — traditional hostility, religious division, commercial 
jealousy, the national pride of the Scotch. Scotland was 
held back through fear that the stronger nation would fail to 
respect her religious and political rights. England was un- 
willing to grant commercial equahty to the poorer kingdom. 
The discussion of the terms of union aroused great bitter- 
Act of ness. In 1 703 the Scottish Parliament passed the Act of 
Security. Security, which provided that the successor to the crown of 
Scotland at the queen's death should not be the same per- 
son as the successor to the Crown of England unless full 
security was given for freedom of religion and trade. The 




The Tories and the Peace of Utrecht 373 

English Parliament retorted by increasing the commercial 
restrictions against Scotland. 

The advantages of union to both nations were, however, so 
great that the Whig ministers finally succeeded in carrying 
through an Act of Union (1707). The terms were wise and Act of Union, 
hberal. The title of the United _.__ ^707. 

Kingdom was to be Great Brit- 
ain. There was to be one Par- 
hament, and Scotland received 
full representation in both 
Houses. Free trade and com- 
mercial equality were estab- 
lished. Security was provided 
for the national Church and 
the national law of the Scotch. 

To both countries the union 

I • J T, c^ Great Seal after the Union 

proved an unmixed benefit. 

The Tories and the Peace of Utrecht. — The new Tory Bright, ill, 
ministry was bent on bringing the French war to a close. 915-921. 
It spared no effort to throw discredit upon the upholders 
of the opposite policy, and in this it had now the support 
of Jonathan Swift, the greatest political writer of the time. 
In the Commons the ministerial majority was sure, but in 
the House of Lords, the Whigs, led by Marlborough, were 
strong enough to secure a condemnation of the peace 
policy. To overcome their opposition Harley, Earl of 
Oxford, induced the queen to create twelve new Tory 
peers, and thus bring the Upper House into harmony with 
the Commons. This measure was of great constitutional 
importance, since it indicated that hereafter when the two 
houses disagreed it would be the House of Lords that 
must give way. The Tory victory over the Lords was 
followed by an attack upon Marlborough. He was re- 
moved from his command and declared guilty of pecu- 
lation by the House of Commons. 

Since their accession to office in 17 10, the Tory ministers 
had been carrying on negotiations with Louis. Finally in 



374 



Parties and Party Government 



Green, 

pp. 693, 694. 

Treaty of 

Utrecht, 

1713- 



Green, 

p. 694. 
Bright, III, 
922-924. 



Bolingbroke. 



Death of 
Anne, 17 14. 



1 7 13, by concluding a separate truce with France, the Eng- 
lish ministers forced all the alHes except the Emperor to 
agree to the treaty of Utrecht. Philip was allowed to re- 
tain his kingdom, but a provision was added to the effect 
that the crowns of Spain and France should never be 
united. England secured good terms, obtaining Minorca 
and Gibraltar in the Mediterranean, and in America the 
Hudson Bay territory. Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the 
French part of St. Christopher. By a special treaty with 
Spain, called the Assiento, English merchants were given 
the sole right of supplying the Spanish colonies with negro 
slaves and also permission to send annually one trading ship 
to Panama. As an offset to these material gains England 
had lost all credit abroad by her shabby treatment of her 
allies. 

The Tories and the Succession. — In 1 7 13 the failing health 
of the queen brought forward the question of the succession. 
The position of the Tories was difficult. They had nothing 
to hope from the accession of the house of Hanover. There 
were many who desired the restoration of the old hne, and 
St. John, Lord Bolingbroke, and some of the leaders had 
long been in correspondence with the Pretender. It was cer- 
tain, however, that the country gentry and the parish clergy, 
the strongest elements in the Tory party, would refuse to 
accept a Catholic king. If James Edward had consented 
at this time to declare himself a Protestant, he might possibly 
have obtained the crown, but he loyally refused to change 
his faith. 

Bolingbroke 'did not give up his endeavor to secure the 
domination of the Tory party. In 17 14 he carried through 
Parliament the Schism Act, by which the whole education 
of the country was put under the control of the Church. 
Already, by the Occasional Conformity Act of 1 711, it was 
made practically impossible for Dissenters to hold office or 
sit in Parliament. But quarrels in the ministry delayed the 
completion of Bolingbroke's schemes, and the Whigs acted 
with wisdom and decision. On the death of the queen in 



The House of Hanover and the Whigs 375 

August, 1 7 14, the Elector of Hanover^ was at once PPJ^ AIAJ^^ 
claimed king. ^'^/lyi^^ 

The Early Hanoverians. — The unopposed accession of 
George I showed that after a struggle of almost thirty years, 
England had finally accepted the principle of succession by 
Parliamentary title. The people were glad to regard the^^ 
question as settled, and to turn to other interests. 

There was nothing in the new rulers to arouse enthusiasm, 
or to call out personal loyalty. George I was industrious 
and businesslike, and George II was a fair soldier; both 
were honest and straightforward men. They were devoted 
to Hanover and Hanoverian politics, and they cared little 
for England. They had the good sense to recognize the 
conditions on which alone they could hope to retain the 
English crown. In Hanover they were petty despots, but 
in England they made no attempt to tamper with a consti- 
tution which they did not understand, and, save where 
Hanoverian interests were concerned, they gave the control 
of affairs unreservedly into the hands of their ministers.^ 

The House of Hanover and the Whigs. — The accession of Green, 
the house of Hanover was followed by forty-five years of PP" ^^' ^ * 
unbroken Whig ascendency. The first George was the king 
of a party. He felt that he owed his crown to the Whigs, 
and he had been led to regard all Tories as Jacobites. The 

1 HOUSE OF HANOVER 
George I, 1714-1727 
George H, 1727-1760 

Frederick, Prince of Wales 

,1 

George HI, 1760-1820 



George IV, 1820-1830 William IV, 1830-1837. Edward, Duke 

I of Kent 

Princess Charlotte. | 

Victoria, 1837. 

2 George I spoke no English, and therefore he was not present at 
Cabinet meetings, thus establishing a precedent of great constitutional 
importance. 



3/6 Parties and Party Government 

alliance which he established with the Whigs lasted through- 
out his reign and that of his son, George II. During much 
of this time a Tory party scarcely existed. The intrigues of 
the leaders with the Pretender resulted in the breaking up 
of the party, one section going over to Jacobitism, another 
joining the Whigs. In the earlier Hanoverian Parliaments, 
the Tories in the House of Commons numbered scarcely 
fifty. For forty-five years the real rulers of England were 
the leaders of the Whig party. They had the favor of the 
crown, but the real basis of their power was the steady sup- 
port of the Dissenters and the commercial classes and the 
ParHamentary influence of the great Whig houses. 
Bright, III, Fall of the Tories. — Upon the death of Anne, power 

931. 932. passed at once into the hands of the Whigs. The new 

ministry under Townshend was exclusively Whig, and the 
Parliament which met in 17 15 had a majority of the same 
party. Energetic measures were taken against the defeated 
Tories. The negotiations of the peace of Utrecht were 
condemned. Impeachment was still the accepted way of 
calling ministers to account, and both Oxford and Boling- 
Attackonthe broke were impeached for treason. Bolingbroke fled to 
'^^^. , France and was attainted. Oxford was seized and com- 

ministry. 

mitted to the Tower for a time, when the proceedings against 
him were dropped. This is the last instance in English his- 
tory of a political impeachment. 

Whig persecution tended to increase thp Jacobitism of 

the Tories. Both in Scotland and in England there were 

many ready to rise against the new government. In Sep- 

Green, tember, 1 7 15, a Jacobite insurrection, headed by the Earl 

PP- 9 . 97- Qf Mar, broke out in Scotland, and a month later the 

Jacobite Jacobites of the North of England took up arms. The rising 

iibing, 1715. ^^g mismanaged from beginning to end. The Pretender 

did not arrive until the contest was really decided, while 

the Whigs acted with vigor. On November 13, the English 

insurgents were defeated at Preston, and on the same day at 

Slieriffmuir, Argyle won a practical victory over the Scotch 

Jacobites. The only effect of the rising was to strengthen 



The Stanhope Ministry 377 

the Whigs by identifying the Tories more closely with 
Jacobitism. 

The Triennial Bill of 1694 limited the life of a Parliament Septennial 
to three years, and a general election was due in 171 7. In ^^^' ^707- 
the excited state of feeling the Whigs dared not face the Bright, in, 
country, and accordingly they passed the Septennial Act ^ ^^s, 939- 
(1716), by which the existing Parhament was prolonged 
four years. This action of the Whigs was undoubtedly 
high-handed and perhaps illegal, but the establishment of 
the house of Hanover as well as their own tenure of power 
was at stake. 

The Stanhope Ministry. — The position of the Whigs was 
now so secure that they fell to quarrelHng among them- 
selves, and they soon broke into two parties, one headed by 
Townshend and Walpole, the other by Sunderland and Stan- 
hope. In 1 71 7 a new ministry, in which Townshend and 
Walpole were not included, was organized with Stanhope 
as chief. 

The danger from the Jacobites as well as the industrial Green, 
needs of the country led the Whigs to support a peace PP- ^97-699- 
policy. Their foreign policy was directed to securing the 
maintenance of the terms of the peace of Utrecht. In 171 7 
Stanhope succeeded in forming with France and Holland 
what is known as the Triple Alliance. It was based on an 
entire reversal of the policy of Louis XIV. The French 
government now gave its adherence to the Protestant suc- 
cession in England and agreed to banish the Pretender 
from its territories, and the complete separation of the 
French and Spanish crowns was conceded. 

In 1 72 1 the Stanhope ministry was ruined by the South Bright, ill, 
Sea Bubble. The reestablishment of peace had been 948-953- 
followed by a great increase in trade and speculation. 
Many trading companies were formed. The most im- 
portant of these was the South Sea Company. Through South Sea 
the Assiento grant the company had prospered greatly. In ^' 

1 Under this act, which still remains in force, the duration of a Parlia- 
ment is limited to seven years. 



37^ Pctf^ti^s and Party Government 

1720, desiring to extend its financial operations, it struck a 
bargain with the government by which holders of the 
National Debt were allowed to transfer their loans to the 
South Sea Company. As exaggerated ideas prevailed with 
regard to the wealth of Spanish America, enormous profits 
were expected and there was such a rush for the South Sea 
Company's stock that the shares soon stood at one thousand 
per cent. A madness of speculation surged over the country. 
In a feverish desire to get rich quickly, people invested their 
money in all kinds of worthless and bogus enterprises. In 
1721 the crash came, the bubble companies failed, the 
South Sea shares went down rapidly. Thousands were 
beggared. Through its connection with the South Sea 
Company the ministry was held responsible for the disasters 
that had befallen the country. It was overthrown, and 
Walpole, whose financial ability was well known, was called 
to take charge of the administration. 
Green, The Ministry of Sir Robert Walpole. — In 1721 Walpole 

pp. 692, 699. became First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the 
Exchequer, and he continued to hold these offices practi- 
cally without a break for twenty-one years. Even the death 
Bright, III, of George I (1727) did not permanently shake Walpole's 
9^^' power ; for, through the influence of Queen Caroline, a 

very able woman, the new king, George II (i 727-1 760), 
was induced to give his confidence to his father's minister. 
Walpole's administration forms an important period in Eng- 
lish history, but it is devoid of striking events. This was 
due mainly to the influence of the great minister. To estab- 
lish the Revolution Setdement and to restore the commer- 
cial and industrial prosperity of the country were the objects 
of his policy. Peace abroad and contentment at home were 
essential to the success of his plans. It was his constant 
effort, therefore, to keep England out of war, and to avoid 
stirring up trouble among the people. He took for his 
motto Quieta non movere (let sleeping dogs lie). The 
country had just passed through eighty years of revolution. 
He felt that it needed repose, not reform. 



Finance ^79 

Finance. — Walpole was one of the greatest masters of Green, 
finance that England has ever had. His measures were PP- 7°°) 7oi. 
timely. He reduced the debt and lightened the customs. 
Some of his plans miscarried, however, through unreasoning Bright, in, 
popular opposition, skilfully played upon by his political oppo- 957. 973-975- 
nents. In 1730 an Englishman named Wood was granted a 
patent to issue a new copper coinage for Ireland. The coins 
were of good value, the need for them was undoubted, and 
no one was obliged to take them against his will. But Irish 
opposition to any measure of the EngUsh government was 
ready. Dean Swift, Walpole's bitter enemy, fomented the Saintsbmy, 
dissatisfaction with the famous Drapiefs Letters. Walpole ^^^^^^^^^ 
would run no risk of an outbreak, and the patent was with- 
drawn. A far more important measure was defeated by 
popular violence in England. The Excise Bill of 1733 was Excise Bill, 
simply a proposal to transfer wine and tobacco from the 
customs to the excise ; that is, to replace the duty on im- 
portation by a tax on home consumption. The change 
would put a stop to smuggling, and so augment the revenue 
that the land tax might be reduced to the gratification of the 
country gentlemen, a class Walpole desired to conciliate. 
In addition, it would tend to make London a free port, 
and in consequence a more important market. But the 
character of the measure was misunderstood, and it was 
greeted with a fierce popular outcry. The Opposition, 
aided by the Craftsman, a famous opposition paper, spared 
no pains to increase the agitation. Walpole's majority in 
the House was secure, but he refused to force his measure 
upon an unwilling people, and the scheme was abandoned. 

In the main Walpole's commercial and colonial policy 
was a policy of non-interference, but where he did interfere 
he was guided by sound principle. In the king's speech of 
1721 it was declared to be the purpose of the government 
" to make the exportation of our own manufactures, and the 
importation of the commodities used in the manufacturing 
of them, as practicable and as easy as may be." Accord- 
ingly export duties were removed from one hundred and 



380 



Parties and Party Government 



Colonial 
measures. 



The Family 
Compact. 



Green, 

pp. 702-705. 

Bright, III, 

967-969, 

980-984. 



six articles of British manufacture, and import duties from 
thirty-eight articles of raw material. Other wise measures 
removed some of the restrictions on the foreign trade of 
the American and West Indian colonies. The results of 
Walpole's policy were shown in the increased prosperity 
of the colonies, and in the striking growth of England's 
trade with them. 

Foreign Affairs. — With the peace of Utrecht, opposi- 
tion to France, the controlhng principle of European com- 
binations for half a century, ceased to have any force. The 
uncertainty of continental politics during the next genera- 
tion was shown in a series of alliances and counter-alliances. 
England's part in foreign affairs was determined by Wal- 
pole's desire to maintain a general peace, and to keep 
England out of war at all hazards. His policy, Hke Stan- 
hope's, was based on an aUiance with France. Both the 
peace policy and the French alliance aroused bitter oppo- 
sition, and in 1733 it seemed certain that Walpole would 
have to give way on both points. France and Spain had 
just concluded the Family Compact, binding themselves 
to oppose England's commercial and colonial expansion. 
The king and queen, a majority in the Cabinet and in the 
nation, were determined to force England to give up her 
neutraUty and declare war. Still Walpole did not yield. 
"Madam," he said to the queen one morning in 1734, 
" there are fifty thousand men slain this year in Europe, and 
not one Englishman." Largely through hislefforts a general 
pacification was arranged in 1735. 

The Opposition. — But the end of peace was at hand. 
The Opposition was growing strong. It was made up of 
several different elements, — a little band of Tories led by 
Bolingbroke, now back in England, disappointed Whigs, 
who called themselves the Patriots, a group of young men, 
the Young Patriots, who were disgusted with the corruption 
in government, and held Walpole responsible for it all. 
At the head of the Opposition was Frederick, Prince of 
Wales, a worthless young man, chiefly influenced by a 



The Constitution tmder Walpole 381 

desire to vex his father, with whom he had quarrelled. 
Difficulties with Spain soon gave a good chance for attack 
upon Walpole. Under the Assiento giving England the right 
to send annually one trading ship to Spanish America, an 
extensive smuggling trade had sprung up. In their efforts 
to check this the Spanish officials sometimes treated the 
English traders with great brutahty. Popular feehng be- 
came much aroused. The Opposition spared no efforts to 
increase the agitation. A certain Captain Jenkins was 
broucrht before a committee of the House to tell the tale of 
how his ear was torn off by a Spanish naval officer who 
boarded his ship in search of contraband. Walpole could War wnh^^^ 
not withstand the storm of indignation that swept over the 
country. In 1739 war was declared against Spam. 

Fall of Walpole. - For two years longer Walpole remained ^^f^^^^^^^ 
in office. The war against Spain was not successful, and he 
was held responsible. In 1 741 a general election reduced his 
majority in the Commons. Election petitions were at that 
time decided in the House of Commons, and entirely on 
party grounds. On the Chippenham election petition, 
Walpole was beaten by a majority of one. Early m 1742 
he resigned. His work was done. He had secured for 
England nearly twenty years of peace, he had estabhshed 
the house of Hanover firmly on the throne, he had advanced 
the material interests of the country. 

The Constitution under Walpole. — During Walpole's long 
tenure of office the Cabinet system received definite shape. 
He was the first English minister who may rightly be called 
Prime Minister. He was head of the Cabinet, he chose his 
colleagues in that body, the poUcy of the government was 
his pohcy. His ministry was practically a unit, and his power 
was founded directly on the support of the House of Com- 
mons, and he resigned when he lost that support. The 
House of Commons did not, however, represent the nation. 
Constitutional development stopped short at this point. 

The Revolution of 1688 secured the supremacy of Parlia- 
ment over the executive, but that did not imply government 



382 



Parties and Party Government 



by the people. A few great families ruled the nation in the 
name of a king who was a mere figure-head, and by the 
authority of a ParUament which they systematically corrupted. 

_i _! jf/ 




The Old House of Commons 

From an Old Print 

Power had been acquired without a corresponding increase 
of responsibihty. Debates were secret, division lists-' were 
never published, public opinion could exert but little in- 
fluence. Moreover, the electoral system was such that the 

1 It was not until 1836 that the House of Commons adopted the plan of 
recording and publishing day by day the votes of every member. 



Political Corruption 383 

House in nowise represented the nation. In the counties 
there had been no change in the franchise since the time The 
of Henry VI . The manner of holding land had been modi- franchise, 
fied, and new forms of property had come into existence, 
but the electors were still the forty-shilling freeholders. 
The condition of the towns was far worse. Many had 
fallen under the control of the corporations, and the right 
of voting was limited to a mere handful of the inhabitants. 
In others, all sorts of anomalous franchises existed. In 
Weymouth, for example, the title to any share of certain 
ancient rents constituted the qualification for voting. The 
report of a commission of inspection showed that several 
electors voted by right of their claim to an undivided 
twentieth part of a sixpence. For generations there had inequalities 
been no reapportionment of seats. Population had shifted ^ati^on!^^^^"" 
without a corresponding change of representation. Lan- 
cashire, with nearly one and a half million inhabitants, 
had fourteen representatives ; Cornwall's three hundred 
thousand inhabitants returned forty-four members. Great 
cities like Birmingham and Manchester were unrepresented, 
while old Sarum, with but one house, and Dunwich, which 
had disappeared under the waves of the North Sea, still 
returned their two members. It was, in the words of Burke, 
a system of " represented ruins and unrepresented cities." 

Political Corruption. — Such a condition of things natu- 
rally invited corruption. Many of the towns were " pocket " 
or nomination boroughs, controlled by some neighboring 
noble or landowner. Others were put up publicly for sale, Sale of seats, 
the customary price being about ^4000- Contested elec- 
tions, when they occurred, involved the expenditure of im- 
mense sums of money. One Yorkshire election cost nearly 
^150,000. Under this condition of things, systematic 
bribery seemed the only means of securing party success 
or of giving stabiHty to the government. Corruption began 
with the meanest voter, and ended in the Cabinet. Large 
sums were expended in the purchase of seats. Places and Bribery, 
pensions and titles were the rewards held out to the sup- 



384 Parties and Party Government 

porters of the administration. In the first Parliament of 
George I two hundred and seventy- one of the members 
held offices or pensions. One of the most arduous duties 
of the ministers was the disposal of the secret service funds. 
At one time an office was established at the treasury for the 
purchase of members, and more than ;^ 20,000 are said to 
have been spent in a single day. The example of the gov- 
ernment was followed by all the great lords. Careful esti- 
mates showed that at least three-fifths of the members of 
the House were returned by the crown, and one hundred 
and sixty-two private individuals. 

The War of the Austrian Succession. — There was some 
difficulty in forming a ministry after Walpole's fall. The 
Tories were still too weak to obtain recognition, and the 
Whig factions were agreed only in opposing Walpole. A 
ministry was finally organized under the control of the two 
brothers Pelham and Newcastle, and Carteret. During the 
next few years domestic interests were forced into the back- 
ground by foreign affairs. In 1 740 the War of the Austrian 
Succession broke out. In that year Maria Theresa succeeded 
Green, to the possession of the Austrian territories, and was at once 

PP- 704. 712, forced to defend her inheritance against the attacks of 

7^5' 

Prussia, France, and other European powers, most of whom 

had sworn to defend her rights. Walpole, true to his deter- 
mination to avoid war, had striven to effect a peaceable 
settlement of the matter. When Carteret took control of 
foreign affairs, a more spirited policy was adopted. An 
alliance was entered into with Austria, British troops were 
sent over to the continent, the navy was increased, Hanove- 
Deitingen, rian forces were taken into English pay. In 1 743 a body 
1743- of Hessians and Hanoverians under George II defeated the 

French at Dettingen.^ 

Gradually England's interest in the war changed. The 

object was no longer to defend Austria, but to crush France. 

In 1 743 the Family Compact between France and Spain was 

renewed. Moreover, the commercial and colonial rivalry 

1 This was the last battle in which an English king took part. 



The Jacobite Rebellion of 1^4^ 385 

between the Bourbon powers and England was forced to 
the front. After 1744 there was fighting in India and 
America, as well as in Europe. Carteret, who took a conti- 
nental view of the situation, wished to form a European com- 
bination, and to conquer the French on land. The EngHsh 
people, on the other hand, desired that England should con- 
centrate her energies upon a naval struggle with France. In 
1744 Carteret retired from the Cabinet, but no change of 
policy followed. The contest continued for four years Bright, ill, 
longer, the campaigns marked throughout by incapacity on ^°^^> ^°^2* 
the part of the English. In 1 748 the war was brought to a Treaty of 
close by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which was, however, Aix-ia- 

, • , r • 1 J r 1 Chapelle, 

nothmg more than a truce, for it settled none of the great j^^g. 
issues that divided Europe. 

The Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. — While England was still Green, 
at war with France, a Jacobite rising in Scotland proved the ^P; 'J^.^'/tt^* 
justice of Walpole's fear that foreign war would be the sig- ggg-iJog. 
nal for a renewed attempt to overthrow the house of Han- 
over. In August, 1745, Prince Charles Edward, the Young 
Pretender, landed in the western Highlands with a small 
band of followers. After some hesitation some of the clans 
rallied to his standard. At this time there were few regular 
troops in Scotland, and the Pretender succeeded in leading 
his Highlanders as far south as Derby. But he was disap- 
pointed in his hopes of rallying the EngHsh to his support ; 
the people remained apathetic, neither supporting nor 
opposing his advance. At Derby, the approach of troops 
under the Duke of Cumberland forced him to retreat north- 
ward. In the following spring, his forces were completely 
defeated at CuUoden, near Inverness, and he was forced to Culioden, 
flee to France. He never had much chance of success, for ^74^. 
he found no support except among the Highlanders. This 
was the last rising of the Jacobites. Although there was 
little enthusiasm for the house of Hanover, it was plain that 
the cause of the Stuarts was lost.^ To prevent further diffi- 

1 The last descendant in the male line of the house of Stuart died in 1807 
a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic church. 
2C 



386 



Parties and Party Government 



Green, 

pp. 706-711. 
Bright, III, 
1015-1017. 



culty, severe restrictions were imposed upon the Highland- 
ers ; they were forbidden to wear the tartan, and the power 
of the chiefs of the clans was greatly Hmited. A little later 




several Highland regiments were raised by Pitt, thus absorb- 
ing the warlike energies of the clansmen. 

The Religious Revival. — Under the early Hanoverians, 
there was a marked decHne in religious feeling and moral 
earnestness throughout the nation. The upper classes were 
material and sceptical, the lower classes ignorant and 



The Religious Revival 387 

brutal. Neither the Church nor the Dissenting bodies 
seemed able to cope with the existing evil. The Church 
was weakened by division. To counteract the Jacobite ten- 
dencies of the clergy, appointments to high ecclesiastical 
offices, which were controlled by the crown, had been con- 
fined to Whigs. As a result the upper clergy were Whig 
and Hanoverian, while the lower clergy were Tory or Jaco- 
bite. The bishops reflected the tone of the fashionable 
world ; they were latitudinarian and unspiritual, and many 
of them were non-resident. The parish clergy were usually 
narrow and ignorant. Among the Dissenters, religious zeal 
had cooled, and the Roman Catholics were powerless. 

Here and there thinking men like Bishop Butler strove to 
inspire the Church with new life, but it was the Wesleys 
and Whitfield who took up the work of moving the 
masses. The Methodist movement, which started about The 
1730, received its name from the college nickname of Methodists, 
the group of Oxford men who were its guiding spirits. 
John Wesley, an ordained clergyman of the Anglican 
Church, was the undisputed leader and organizer of 
the movement. The aim of Wesley and his associates 
was to make religion more heartfelt, to bring it to the 
masses untouched by the cold formalism of the Church. 
Outdoor preaching was their means of reaching the people. 
The results were tremendous. Immense crowds gathered 
wherever they went. As many as twenty thousand assem- 
bled at one time to hear Whitfield, the great preacher of the 
Methodists. At first Wesley had no thought of separating 
from the Church, but the narrow-minded hostility of the 
clergy gradually forced him to organize congregations out- 
side the Church. Before he died he had built up a great 
religious society whose influence was transforming the char- 
acter of the lower classes. But Methodism did more than 
this ; it aroused the Church from its lethargy, and the Evan- 
gelical movement was the result. Indirectly it stimulated 
philanthropic interest. The labors of John Howard on be- Philanthropy, 
half of the felon and the imprisoned debtor, the eflbrts of 



388 Parties and Party Government 

Clarkson and Wilberforce to put down the slave trade, can 

be traced to that sympathy with mankind which was the 

foundation of the Wesleyan propaganda. 

Pitt and the Seven Years' War. — The years following 

the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle were quiet and uneventful. 

Financial and commercial interests were still dominant. 
Green, Henry Pelham remained at the head of the government 

PP:^^5'7i6- y^-^^w his death in i7S4, when he was succeeded by his 

Brio^ht, III, "^ ■' 

1018-1022.' brother, the Duke of Newcastle. The treaty of 1748 was 
merely a cessation of hostilities, and many signs now pointed 
to a speedy renewal of war. Austria was bent on regaining 
Silesia, surrendered to Prussia by the treaty of Aix-la- 
Chapelle, and had drawn nearer France. In America and 
in India the contest for supremacy between the English 
and the French was becoming acute. Although the two 
nations were still formally at peace, there was fighting both 
in America and on the sea. In 1756 a long train of nego- 
tiations ended in a new combination of the great European 
powers. England and Prussia were now opposed to Austria 
and France. 

The beginning of hostilities at once laid bare the incapacity 
of the Newcastle administration. The surrender of Minorca 
without a blow being struck in its defence raised such a 
popular outcry that Newcastle was forced to resign. During 
the next few months a struggle went on between the ruling 
Whig houses supported by the crown on the one hand, and 
the opposition Whigs led by WilHam Pitt and supported by 
the nation on the other. At last the Pitt-Newcastle min- 
istry was formed. Pitt contributed genius, Newcastle a 
Parliamentary majority. 
Green, William Pitt. — The "Great Commoner" was one of 

PP- 716-725. ^i^g ablest war ministers England has ever had, and her 
first great popular minister. He came into prominence as 
leader of the Young Patriots in 1742. His integrity, his 
eloquence, his statesmanlike views, and the ardor of his 
patriotism had won him the devotion of his people. Dis- 
liked by the king and the politicians, he leaned not upon 



Whigs and Tories in iy6o 389 

the House of Commons, but upon the nation, and his ap- 
pointment to the control of affairs meant the triumph of 
popular will. At this critical moment he was the one man 
capable of inspiring England with courage for the contest. 
" I know that I can save the nation, and that nobody else 
can," he declared. A new spirit at once became apparent Bright, ill, 
in the administration. The army and navy were reorgan- ^024-1033. 
ized and suppHes were raised without difficulty. 

By 1758 the results of Pitt's efforts became apparent in 
the successes of the English in Canada and on the sea. English 
The French ports were blockaded, the French possessions successes. 
in India and Canada were attacked. Louisburg and Fort 
Duquesne were taken. 1 759 was a year of triumphs. Eng- 
lish supremacy on the sea was secured by the victory of 
Quiberon, and with the fall of Quebec the northern colonies 
of France passed into the control of England. With the Death of 
close of 1760 the French power in India came to an end. ^^^^s^ ^ - 
On October 25 of this same year George II died. 

Whigs and Tories in 1760. — The accession of George 
III marks an epoch in the development of English parties. 
For more than forty years the Whigs had been in control. 
Long tenure of power had brought the usual results, cor- 
ruption and neglect of pubHc interest. Politics had come 
to mean little more than a greedy scramble for office. The 
Whigs had done a great work in defending the national 
faith and political freedom against the house of Stuart. 
Under their rule persecution had stopped, justice had been 
administered, the supremacy of ParHament had been estab- 
lished ; but they had cea:sed to be a party of progress. 
Demands for reform met with no response ; the needs of the 
country were lost sight of in the interests of a few great 
Whig famihes. 

Just at the moment when the country was growing weary The new 
of Whig rule, the Tories, after years of political insignifi- "'"yis"^- 
cance, reappeared, organized on a new basis, inspired by 
different principles. So long as Toryism meant Jacobitisra, 
its revival was out of the question ; the nation was too 



390 Parties and Party Government 

strongly Protestant and Hanoverian to favor a Stuart res- 
toration. But Jacobitism came to an end in 1745. The 
writings of Bolingbroke, the greatest of the Tory thinkers, 
furnished the basis of a purified, reorganized party. Under 
his inspiration the Tories were brought to accept the princi- 
ples of the Revolution, and to support the Hanoverian rule 
while holding fast to the idea of authority as opposed to the 
Whig principle of liberty. 
Bright, III, George III (1760-1820) and the Government. — Unlike 

1035, 1036. }^|g predecessors of the house of Hanover, George HI was 
pp. 728-730. deeply attached to England and gloried in being an Eng- 
lishman. He was honest and well-meaning and anxious to 
do his duty, but he was narrow-minded and stubborn, and 
had been badly educated. He had been trained by his 
mother in the spirit of Bolingbroke's Patriot King. His 
ideal was a strong monarch governing by his own will, but 
in the interest of the whole nation. He came to the 
throne with a carefully considered plan for overthrowing 
the Whig clique and ruling through ministers of his own 
choice. Parties, he maintained, were at an end, and he 
purposed to act, not as a party leader, but as the head of 
the whole nation. In this he was likely to have the sup- 
port of the people, to whom party government meant simply 
the domination of a few families ruling in their own interest. 
Green, The Peace of Paris. — The king spent the first ten years 

PP- 731. 73'2- Qf j^jg reign in efforts to establish this poHcy. By the lavish 
use of money and favor he succeeded in forming a party, 
known as the King's Friends, whose guiding political 
principle was to vote according to the royal bidding. The 
Fall of Pitt, first blow was struck at the war and Pitt. Pitt was bent on 
destroying the commercial power of France, and urged an 
immediate attack upon Spain, still a great colonial power 
Bright, III, and bound to France by the Family Compact. The king 
1037-1041. refused to support this policy, and in 1761 Pitt re- 

Green . i. j > 

pp 720, 731. signed. Newcastle was soon driven from office, and in 
1762 Lord Bute, a favorite of the king, became chief 
minister. Already, however, England had been forced into 



Divisions among the Whigs 391 

war with Spain. The English were everywhere successful, War with 
and obtained control of the French West Indies, and of Spam. 
Cuba and the Phihppines, important colonial possessions of 
Spain. But Bute was bent on ending the war as soon as 
possible, and in 1763 the peace of Paris was concluded. 
Although England did not obtain all that her successes 
warranted, her supremacy in America, in India, and on the 
sea was secured. On the other hand, Frederick of Prussia. 
England's ally, felt that his interests had been sacrificed, and 
from this time on he opposed the English on every occasion, 
A few weeks after the conclusion of the peace Bute re- 
signed, unwiUing to face the general dissatisfaction with his 
administration. 

Divisions among the Whigs. — The king's success in his 
first conflict with the Whigs was due to divisions in the 
party. On the one hand was the main body of the Whigs, 
led by Rockingham. They inherited the traditions and 
much of the Parliamentary influence of the great Revolu- 
tionary families. Their sympathies were aristocratic and 
they were hostile to reform. Opposed to the official Whigs 
were Pitt and his following, popular in tendency and bent 
on reform. Other groups of so-called Whigs were the 
foflowers of GrenviUe and of Bedford. They were con- 
trolled chiefly by personal interest, and had none of the 
popular sympathies of Pitt's party. Before very long many 
of them passed over to the Tories. 

The strength of the opposition to Bute had shown the Green, 
king that the Whigs were too strong to be ignored, and PP- 732, 733- 
during the next few years he endeavored to carry on the 
government in cooperation with one or another of the Whig 
factions, while at the same time striving to build up his own 
power. Two great questions agitated the country during 
this period, political reform and the government of the 
American colonies. The Rockingham Whigs and Pitt 
agreed in the main on a conciHatory policy toward America, 
and if they could have united would have been able to 
control the government, but Pitt feared the oligarchical ten- 



392 



Parties and Party Government 



Green, 

PP- 733-735. 
Bright, III, 
1043-1048. 



Wilkes. 



The Stamp 
Act, 1765. 



Green, 

PP- 735. 736. 
Bright. Ill, 
1050-1053. 



dencies of the other faction and steadily held aloof. In favor 
of a repressive policy at home and in America were the 
king and his following, and the Grenville faction. 

The Grenville Ministry. — When the king, on the fall of 
Bute, found himself forced to choose a minister from the 
Whigs, he turned to Grenville, who had separated from the 
great Whig connection, and was not, like Pitt, disqualified 
by popular and reforming tendencies. Grenville's ministry 
lasted two years, and during that time he succeeded in em- 
broiling Parliament and the nation in political controversies 
and in alienating the American colonies. John Wilkes, a 
member for Aylesbury, had attacked the Bute administration 
in No. 45 of the North Briton, a newspaper of which he was 
editor. Arrested on a general warrant, he was discharged 
on the ground of Parliamentary privilege. The House of 
Commons, urged on by Grenville and the king, voted 
No. 45 a libel, and expelled Wilkes from the House. He 
became at once a popular hero. The cries of " Wilkes and 
Liberty " which resounded through the country testified to 
the growing estrangement of Parliament and the people. 

Grenville's next step was to stir up rebelHon in the colo- 
nies. During the ministry of Walpole and Newcastle, the 
Americans were left very much to themselves, and had thriven 
under neglect. This was England's gain, for, as Walpole 
had contended, the prosperity of the colonies meant in- 
creased demands for English goods. But Grenville was 
unwilling to let well enough alone. He resolved to sup- 
press the smugghng trade at which Walpole had connived, 
and he carried through Parliament measures for taxing the 
colonies for the support of an army which he proposed to 
maintain in America. The uncompromising resistance of 
the colonists to the Stamp Act forced at once upon Eng- 
land the issue of coercion or conciliation. 

The Rockingham Ministry. — Before the consequences of 
the Stamp Act were realized in England, however, the min- 
istry had fallen. Its overthrow was due to the king's per- 
sonal dislike for Grenville. George was now forced to fall 



The Rockingham Ministry 



393 



back on the official Whigs, and Lord Rockingham became 
Prime Minister. During the year that Rockingham was in 
office he strove to remedy the mistakes of his predecessor. 




^^^i>^^ 



The use of general warrants was prohibited, and the Stamp 
Act was repealed (1766). 

Rockingham had the support of Edmund Burke, the 



394 



Parties and Party Government 



Green, 
pp. 736-738. 
Bright, III, 
1053-1059. 

Townshend 
duties, 1767. 



The Middle- 
sex election. 



greatest political writer of the day, but he failed in his 
efforts to win over Pitt, and without Pitt no ministry could 
now hope to stand for any length of time. The king pre- 
ferred even Pitt to the official Whigs, and in 1766 he dis- 
missed Rockingham and made the Great Commoner Prime 
Minister, at the same time creating him Earl of Chatham. 

The Chatham-Grafton Ministry. — Before Pitt could carry 
out his plans, domestic and foreign, he became so ill that he 
was forced to withdraw from public life. Under Graf- 
ton, his successor, the policy of the Rockingham ministry 
was reversed. By the Townshend import duties the quarrel 
with America was renewed, and the general election of 1768 
brought up once more the Wilkes case. Wilkes was elected 
in Middlesex. The Commons, urged on by the king, ex- 
pelled him from the House. Again and again Middlesex 
returned Wilkes, and each time the Commons declared him 
incapable of sitting in Parliament. A great constitutional 
question was at stake, the right of constituencies to choose 
their own representatives. On the side of Wilkes were the 
Chatham and Grenville and Rockingham Whigs, and he had 
the support of the great orator Burke, and of the clever 
satirist who called himself "Junius." But the king had 
at last succeeded in establishing his control of Parliament, 
and the victory was his. In 1770 the king felt himself 
strong enough to dismiss Grafton from office, and to ap- 
point as Prime Minister Lord North, a man after his own 
heart. ^ 

The Rule of the King and Lord North. — During the 
twelve years of the North ministry, George "ruled as well 
as reigned." The national policy was the king's poHcy, the 
ministers were his agents. Parliament was his tool. In 
North he had an able and docile servant, and on his side 
was the new Toryism with its devotion to the principle 
of authority. Bribery was carried to lengths unheard of 
hitherto. Preferment in Church or State was made the 
reward of political service, and loss of office followed refusal 
to support the royal policy. The king did not disdain to 



The Reform Movement • 395 

make use of his direct personal influence to gain his ends. Bright, lii, 
In a letter to North he wrote, in reference to a recent vote ■^°^^' ^°^°' 
in Parliament, " I wish a list could be prepared of those that 
went away and those that deserted to the minority. This 
would be a rule for my conduct in the drawing-room to- 
morrow." By these means the king commanded a steady 
majority. Royal authority was based on a Parliament which 
was bought and sold. 

George III was willing to govern in the interest of the Green, 
people as he understood it, but he was not willing that they ^^" 739-744' 
should govern themselves. At first he met with little oppo- 
sition. The American question was of absorbing interest, 
and more and more public opinion was turning against the 
colonists. With the mass of the people the repressive meas- 
ures and the war which followed were popular. Commer- 
cial interest, Tory support of authority, the spirit of im- 
perialism, strong since the peace of Paris, were all enlisted 
on the side of the king. 

The Reform Movement. — To the Opposition, however, Bright, in, 

the struggle in America appeared in a different light. ^ ^~^° ^' 

Exclusion from power was transforming the Whigs into 

a party of reform. Pitt and his following had long called 

attention to the defects of the Parliamentary and admin- The Whigs 
. ^ . ^ -r ^^ J . . T^.,, , J and America, 

istrative system. In 1766 and agam m 1770 Pitt had 

urged reform, but he had met with little support.; the 

great mass of the Whigs felt no need of change so long 

as they were in control. Now, however, they reahzed 

the evils of court influence when used against them-- 

selves, they saw the need of reforms which might turn to 

their advantage. Their early sympathy with America was 

increased by the conviction that in the resistance of the 

colonists their own interests were at stake ; triumph of 

the royal policy in America meant its firm establishment in Adams, 

England. Accordingly under the vigorous leadership of r qII^^u 

Chatham, Burke, and Fox, they made the cause of the re- Orations, I. 

volted colonies their own, at the same time giving steady 

support to every demand for reform. 



39^ 



Parties and Party Government 



Green, 

PP- 738, 739- 
Bright, III, 
1082, 1083, 
1091, 1092. 



For a time the Whigs could make but little headway 
against the general approval of the war and the apathy of 
the masses. But failure in America and the heavy bur- 
den of taxation changed the current of feeling. Moreover, 
the resistance of the colonists had not been without effect in 




Edmund Burke 




arousing Englishmen to the evils of their own system of gov- 
ernment. By 1779 the reform movement had assumed for- 
midable dimensions. Great meetings were held throughout 
the country with the intention of bringing public opinion to 
bear on Parliament. Petitions demanding reform in the 
government and signed by thousands were presented in 
the House. In 1780 Burke introduced a great measure for 



The Coalition 



397 



economic reform of the administration, which was followed 
by bills to deprive revenue officers of their votes and to 
exclude contractors from the House of Commons. The 
Duke of Richmond brought in a motion for Parliamentary 
reform, demanding annual Parliaments, universal suffrage, 
and equal electoral districts. Finally a startling resolution Dunning's 
introduced by Dunning to the effect " that the influence of ^^solution. 
the crown was increased, is increasing, and ought to be 
diminished," was carried against the government by a 
majority of eighteen. 

In America matters grew steadily worse. The surrender Green, 
of Yorktown dealt a death-blow to the royal policy. Under P- 748- 
the combined pressure of defeat in America and demand for Bright, iii, 
reform at home, the king was forced to give way. Lord ^^°3. 1104. 
North resigned (1782) and the Whigs returned to power Resignation 
under Lord Rockingham. Government by agents of the king °^ North. 
came to an end, and the cabinet system was reestabhshed. 

The Whigs in Power. — The Rockingham ministry lasted Green, 
only fifteen weeks, but it carried through some important PP' ^49. 7So. 
measures. It opened negotiations for peace, it granted 
Ireland's demand for legislative independence, and under 
the leadership of Burke it secured some of the economic 
reforms brought forward during the North administration. 
Government contractors were excluded from the House 
of Commons, revenue officers were disfranchised, and the 
secret service money and pension list were cut down. The 
ministry refused, however, to take up the question of Parlia- Bright, ill, 
mentary reform. The object of the Whigs was in fact "°^' "°7- 
rather to limit the power of the crown than to make Parlia- 
ment more truly representative of the nation. 

The Coalition. — The death of Rockingham was followed 
by a split in the ministry. Lord Shelburne became Prime Shelbume. 
Minister, and Fox withdrew from the Cabinet. The chief 
work of the Shelburne ministry was to conclude the peace Green, 
negotiations with America. Shelburne, although able and Bri^i^t^'nT" 
progressive, was distrusted on all sides, the terms of the peace 1112, 1113,' 
were unpopular, and in 1783 the ministry was overthrown "29-1134. 



39^ Parties and Party Government 

by an astonishing combination of Lord North with Fox, the 
leader of the progressive wing of the Whigs. In spite of its 
The great Parliamentary strength, this coalition ministry lasted 

coalition. Qj^jy ^ £g^y months. Popular indignation was aroused at an 
alliance formed apparently for the sole purpose of securing 
power. The India Bill proposed by Fox for the reform of 
the East Indian government aroused much dissatisfaction. 
The king, always hostile to Fox, and now alienated from 
North, led the attack upon the coalition, and, regardless 
of the fact that it had the support of the House of Com- 
mons, turned it out and called upon William Pitt, a son of 
the Great Commoner, to form a new ministry. A tremen- 
dous struggle ensued. It was the king, Pitt, and the nation 
against the coalition and Parliament. On one vote after 
another Pitt was defeated, but he maintained his place, 
declaring with truth that ParHament did not represent the 
nation. In March, 1 784, the contest ended in the triumph 
of Pitt. Factious dissensions and indifference to reform 
had weakened the Whig party, the coalition ruined it. 
Save for a short time in 1806 the Whigs remained out of 
power until 1830. 
Green, The Early Years of Pitt's Ministry. — William Pitt was 

PP- 753. 754. barely twenty-five when he was called to take charge of the 
Bright, ill government, but he had already made his mark in the coun- 
1134-1139. try. He had none of the fiery eloquence of his father, but his 
tact and sagacity were unerring. Although his triumph was 
due to the support of the king, this did not imply a return 
to the system that had prevailed during the North ministry. 
So long as Pitt remained in power, the conduct of affairs 
was under his control. He was truly Prime Minister, with 
absolute authority over a united Cabinet. The king might 
chafe at his lack of power, but he knew his choice lay be- 
tween Pitt and the Whig leaders, and he gave undivided 
support to Pitt. 

The young minister had entered public Hfe a Whig, his 
tendencies were liberal,^ and he should have received the 

1 In 1783 he had introduced a bill for the reform of Parliament. 



The French Revolution and Political Reaction 399 

support of the progressive Whigs. Lacking this, he leaned 
more and more upon the new Tory party. Insensibly, his 
views were modified by his relations with the king and by 
his party associations. He still supported reform, and in 
1785 proposed a reform bill, but the measure was not 
thoroughgoing, since it recognized the right of property 
in a seat in the House of Commons. It was defeated, in 
part because of its inadequacy. But the demand for reform 
was subsiding, there was little popular interest in the move- 
ment, and the Whigs were too divided and too badly led to 
seize upon the only chance of revival, reorganization as a 
reform party. 

Pitt's especial ability lay in finance. He struck at smug- Financial 
gling by lowering the customs. The falling off in revenue reform. 
he made good through an excise. Careful management 
turned the deficit into a surplus which was applied to pay- 
ing off the national debt. In 1786 Pitt won a great triumph 
over the commercial theories and national prejudices of his 
generation by carrying through a commercial treaty with 
France which practically established free trade between the 
two countries. He also attempted, although without suc- 
cess, to give to Ireland the commercial freedom which Irish 
industries so much needed. 

The French Revolution and Political Reaction. — All Green, 
things pointed to a period of cautious reform when, in 1789, ^^'^^ "^ °' 
the country was startled by the outbreak of the French 
Revolution. Pubhc opinion was at first divided. To the Bright, ill, 
timid and conservative, the rising of the French people ^J^^Jj^^' 
meant the complete overthrow of the established order, the 
beginning of anarchy; but by many progressive English- 
men it was hailed with enthusiasm. The excesses of the 
Reign of Terror determined the current of popular feeling. 
The hostility of the French was directed against the crown 
and the privileged classes. In England, as a result, the 
Tories, the party of authority, the king's party, became the 
champions of vested interests. The clergy, the aristocracy, 
the wealthy middle classes rallied round the king in defence 



400 



Parties and Party Government 



Green, 

pp. 761-768. 

Burke 

and the 

Revolution. 



Green, 
pp. 769, 770. 
Bright, III, 
1177-1181. 



Repressive 
measures. 



Bright, III, 
1161. 



of privilege and property. Burke, once the advocate of 
political progress, became now the mouthpiece of reaction. 
His Reflections on the French Revohition was the mani- 
festo of a crusade against democracy. The propagandist 
attitude of the French Revolutionists aroused a panic of alarm 
in England, which Pitt strove in vain to stem. At last he 
gave way before the demand of the king and the nation for 
war, and joined hands with the monarchs of Europe in 
an attack upon the French Republic. 

The French Revolution and the war that followed dealt 
the cause of progress a fatal blow. Pitt turned his back 
forever on his plans for financial and political reform. 
Henceforth all his energies were absorbed in the conflict 
with France. In the outset the war was a crusade against 
democratic opinion, and it meant the estabhshment of Tory 
ascendency. Reactionary views and arbitrary methods 
prevailed in the government. Wild fears of a revolutionary 
rising led to the adoption of a policy of repression. The 
Habeas Corpus Act was suspended from 1794 to 1801, new 
treasons were created, the liberty of public meeting was 
restricted, numerous prosecutions of the press were in- 
stituted, and men were found guilty of sedition and harshly 
punished for advocating measures which Pitt had himself 
proposed a few years before. A poor bill-sticker was im- 
prisoned for six months for posting up an address asking 
for Parliamentary reform, and a clergyman, named Palmer, 
was sentenced to seven years' transportation ^or circulating 
a paper in favor of the same measure. 

Break-up of the Whig Party. — In this repressive policy, 
the government had the steady support of Parliament and the 
country. Fear of revolution had brought about a revulsion 
of feeling. In 1794 the great bulk of the Whigs went over 
to Pitt. The Opposition, led by Fox, dwindled to a mere 
handful, too weak to impose any check upon the arbitrary 
policy of the government. It became, however, what it had 
never been before, a party of popular reform. In 1792, in 
1793, and again in 1797 motions for the reform of Parlia- 



The War with France .401 

ment were introduced by Grey. They could scarcely ob- 
tain a hearing, and were thrown out by large majorities. 
The prospect of reform, so bright in 1780, seemed, twenty 
years later, hopelessly deferred. More than a century had 
elapsed since the overthrow of the Stuart despotism, but 
England had apparently made no advance toward popular 
government. In reality much had been gained. In the 




Signature of C. J. Fox 



organization of political parties and in the development of 
the Cabinet, governmental forms had been established well 
fitted to give effect to the will of the people, and to make 
democracy possible. 

The War with France.^-The war lasted from 1793 to Green, 
1802. In the beginning Spain, Holland, Austria, and Prussia PP- 767-769. 

770~772. 

were united with England against France. Notwithstanding 
these odds, the French not only repelled invasion, but carried 
the war across the border into the enemy's country. The 
Republican armies, fired with zeal and patriotism and led by 
Napoleon Bonaparte, the greatest military genius of the age, Bonaparte, 
were irresistible. On land England accomplished nothing. 
Her armies were badly made up and badly led, and the sub- 
sidies which she lavished on the petty German states brought 
little return. On the seas, however, the English were almost 
uniformly successful. English supremacy in the Mediterra- 
nean was soon established, the French Atlantic fleet was 
defeated by Lord Howe, and the French settlements in 
India and some of the West Indian islands passed into the 
possession of England. 

In 1 795 the coalition began to give way before the vie- Break-up of 
tories of the French. Most of the continental states con- ^^^^ coalition, 
eluded treaties with the Republic. England, however, still 

2 D 




BORMAV 4 CO., ENGR'8, N.Y, 



The War zvith France 403 

continued on the offensive. For a time (in the year 1797) 
her situation seemed desperate. She stood alone, threatened 
with invasion from France, menaced with rebelHon in Ire- 
land, the fleet paralyzed by a widespread mutiny. But the 
crisis was met with determination and success. The at- 
tempted invasion ended in failure, and before the year was 
out, by the destruction of the Spanish and Dutch fleets, 
in the battles of Cape Vincent and Camperdown, England 
had lessened the danger of attack. 

The interest of the next year centred in Egypt, whitlicr 
Bonaparte had gone in the belief that the occupation of 
Egypt would open the way to the restoration of the French 
domination in India. Nelson's victory at the battle of the 
Nile (1798), by severing the connection between France Battle of the 
and the French forces in Egypt, placed insuperable diffl- ^^^®' ^798. 
culties in the way of this scheme, and in 1799 i^ was 
abandoned. 

On land, however, Bonaparte, now at the head of the 
French government, swept all before him. A second coali- The second 
tion with Austria and Russia, laboriously built up by Pitt in coahtion. 
1799, fell to pieces within the year. Austria maintained the 
struggle until 1801, when she was forced to sign the treaty 
of Luneville, which left France supreme on the continent. 
In the East and on the sea, England's success was still 
unbroken. Southern India fell before Wellesley, the French 
were defeated at Alexandria, and Nelson's victory at Copen- 
hagen (1801) dealt a fatal blow to the alhance of Sweden, 
Denmark, and Russia which had threatened England's com- 
mercial supremacy. But England needed peace, she stood Green, 
alone in Europe, her debt was enormous, taxation was heavy. P- 779- 
Bonaparte was ready to come to terms, and in 1802 the 
peace of Amiens was concluded. " It was a peace," so Peace of 
Sheridan of the Opposition declared, "which everybody ^"^i^"^- 
would be glad of, but which nobody would be proud of." In 
spite of the fact that England gave back all her conquests 
except Ceylon and Trinidad, the peace was greeted with 
joy throughout the country. 



1802. 



404 



Parties and Party Government 



Green, 

pp. 77^-77^, 

777-779- 



Laws against 
the Catholics. 



Destruction 
of Irish 
industries. 



The Union of England and Ireland. — Before the negotia- 
tions for the peace of Amiens were begun, Pitt had with- 
drawn from the ministry because of the king's refusal to 
agree to the emancipation of the Irish Cathohcs. 

The surrender of Limerick in 1691 (p. 364) was followed 
by the estabhshment of Protestant ascendency in Ireland. 
Many of the Catholic leaders went into exile or were 
ruined by confiscations, and the bulk of the army entered 
foreign service. The fate of the Catholic people, three- 
fourths of the population of Ireland, was in the hands of the 
Irish Parhament, which represented simply the small intol- 
erant Protestant minority. In spite of the pledges of Lime- 
rick, crushing penal laws were enacted against the Cathohcs. 
Their worship was practically proscribed, they were dis- 
franchised, they were excluded from the professions, from 
Parliament, from municipal office. The law thrust itself 
between a Catholic father and his children, a Catholic's 
right to hold land was restricted, he was forbidden to own 
a horse worth more than ^'5. 

The Irish Parliament made the position of the Catholics 
almost intolerable, the English Parliament spared neither 
Catholic nor Protestant. The CromweUian Settlement had 
added a vigorous and intelligent element to the popula- 
tion, and after the Restoration there was a beginning of 
prosperity in Ireland. The land was chiefly pasture, and the 
importation of cattle into England became an important 
source of wealth ; but the English landowners took alarm, 
and laws were passed excluding from England Irish cattle 
and sheep, meat and butter and cheese. Ireland had 
certain commercial advantages in her good harbors and 
proximity to America, but as soon as she showed signs of 
turning these to profit she was cut off almost entirely from 
the colonial trade. As Swift said, Ireland's fine ports were 
of no more use to her than " a beautiful prospect to a man 
shut up in a dungeon." Forbidden to send their sheep to 
Eng;land, the Irish landowners turned to wool-growing, and 
the woollen manufacture began to develop; but in 1699 



The Union of England and Ireland 405 

English manufacturers, fearing the rivalry of Ireland, in- 
duced Parhament to pass a law prohibiting the export of 
Irish woollens to any country whatever. The subordina- 
tion of Irish to English interests was complete. Cut off in 
every direction, industry died out, and the energies of the 
Irish people were thrown back upon the land. 

Crushed and strangled, for over fifty years Ireland did Bright, ill, 
not stir, but about the middle of the eighteenth century a ^°9o, 1105, 
movement for legislative independence began among the 1199-1219, 
Protestants. During the American Revolution, it gained 1229. 
such strength that under the Rockingham ministry of 1782 
the independence of the Irish Parhament was secured. Irish 
The result was disappointing, in part because Pitt failed '^^'^'^^^^^ 

'^ '^ ^ indepen- 

m his attempt to establish complete free trade between dence. 
England and Ireland, and in part because the Irish Parlia- 
ment was still the Parliament of the Protestant minority. 
Although some relief had been given to the Catholics, there 
were still but few Protestants who agreed with Grattan in 
thinking that " the Irish Protestant could never be free till 
the Irish Catholic had ceased to be a slave." The general 
discontent found expression in formidable organizations. 
In 1798 an insurrection broke out among the peasants of 
Wexford and other places. Twice the French took advan- 
tage of the prevaihng disorder, and attempted an invasion 
of Ireland. At last Pitt was convinced that the safety of 
England required that the two countries should be united, 
and in 1800 the Act of Union was carried through, al- Act of Union, 
though opposed, in the words of Lecky, by the " whole ^ °°* 
unbribed intellect of Ireland." Free trade with England 
and representation in the British Parliament were secured 
to Ireland. An essential part of the plan was frustrated, 
however, by the king's refusal to grant the relief to the 
Catholics that Pitt had given them to understand would 
follow union. 




4o6 Parties and Party Government 

Important Events 

William and Mary, 1689- 1702. 

The Bill of Rights, 1689. 
The Act of Toleration, 1689. 
War with France, 1 689-1 697. 
Act of Settlement, 1701. 

Anne, 1702-17 14. 

War with France, 1702-17 13. 
Union with Scotland, 1707. 
Treaty of Utrecht, 17 13. 

EARLY HANOVERIANS 
George I, 17 14-1727. George II, 1 727-1 760. 

Septennial Act, 17 16. 
Ministry of Walpole, 1721-1742. 
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748. 
Outbreak of Seven Years' War, 1756. 

George III, 1 760-1 820. 

Peace of Paris, 1763. 

The Stamp Act, 1765. 

Lord North, Prime Minister, 1 770-1 782. 

American Revolution, 1 776-1 783. 

Pitt, Prime Minister, 1 783-1 801. 

Outbreak of the French Revolution, 1789. 

War with France, 1 793-1 802. 

Peace of Amiens, 1802. \ 

Union with Ireland, 1800. 



CI lief Contemporaries 



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CHAPTER XIII 



COLONIAL EXPANSION 



Payne, 
History of 
European 
Colonies, 
PP- 33-47- 



Books for Consultation 

Special Authorities 

Seeley, Expansion of England, British Policy. 

Caldicott, English Colonization and Empire. 

Cotton and Payne, Colonies and Dependencies. 

Lucas, Historical Geography of the British Colonies. 

Cawston, The Early Chartered Companies. 

Keene, The Fall of the Moghul Empire. 

Lyall, British Domiiiion in India. 

Egerton, A Short History of British Colonial Policy. 

Wilson, Clive. 

Lyall, Hastings. 

Macaulay, Essays on Chatham, Clive, and Hastings. 

Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe. 

Mahan, Influence of Sea Poiver upon History. 

Imaginative Literature 

Churchill, Richard Carvel. 
Thackeray, The Virginians. 

Colonial Undertakings. — The discovery of^ America and 
of the new route to India byway of the Cape of Good Hope 
revealed new worlds in the East and in the West to the mari- 
time enterprise of Europe. It was the work of the six- 
teenth and seventeenth centuries to open up the vast realms 
inviting conquest and colonization in America. India re- 
mained almost undisturbed until the eighteenth century, 
while the exploration and conquest of Africa are contempo- 
rary achievements. 

Spain was the first of the seafaring nations of western 
Europe to enter this new field of enterprise, and she took 

408 



Character of Early Colonial Enterprises 409 



« 



possession of the richest regions, Mexico, Peru, and the 
West Indies. Portugal, more enterprising but less fortunate, 
pushed her interests in the East Indies, in West Africa, and 
in Brazil. Holland followed in the wake of Spain and 
Portugal, building up an empire from their losses. Getting 
a foothold in the East Indies, she established trade relations 
with the Spice Islands of the Indian Archipelago. At the 
Cape of Good Hope, moreover, and along the Hudson 
River, she planted flourishing colonies. France entered 
later upon the quest, but secured extensive domains on the 
Western Continent. Early in the seventeenth century her 
adventurous mariners explored the St. Lawrence River and 
the Great Lakes, and founded the settlements of Acadia 
and Canada. Later they crossed the Mississippi, and so on 
to the Gulf of Mexico, thereby estabhshing exclusive right 
to the great river valleys of North America. 

The English Colonies. — Spain, in quest of gold, had 
seized the southern lands ; the French, attracted by the fur 
trade and fisheries, turned northward \ England took what 
was left. It is worthy of note that England was the last 
of the great European states to enter upon colonial enter- 
prise, in spite of the fact that her attempts to become 
a continental power ended with the fifteenth century. 
Through the voyages and explorations of the Cabots in 
1497 and 1498 the English secured preemptive right to 
the North American coast from Cape Breton to Albemarle 
Sound. But England was backward and unfortunate in 
asserting her claims. It was not until the reign of Elizabeth payne, 
that attempts were made to secure a foothold in the New pp. 82, 83. 
World, and then the colonization schemes of Frobisher and J^^^' ^. 

pp. 495 1 49^' 

Gilbert and Raleigh all ended in failure. At the close of 
the sixteenth century England had no possessions outside 
of Europe. 

Character of the Early Colonial Enterprises. — The begin- Green, 
nings of permanent occupation and colonization belong to PP- 496-498, 
the reigns of the first two Stuarts. Many of the West Indian ^°^' 
Islands — Barbadoes, Antigua, and Montserrat — then came 



41 o Colonial Expansion 

into English possession. The settlement of Virginia was 
followed speedily by the planting of colonies to the north, 
and by the middle of the seventeenth century England 
could boast of a long line of settlements fringing the Atlantic 
seaboard. As a whole the colonial enterprises of England 
at this time were of exceptional character. They were not 
the result of a general migrating tendency in the English 
people, nor of a definite colonizing policy on the part of the 
government. The first two Stuarts were far too busily occu- 
pied in upholding the royal prerogative in England to con- 
cern themselves with schemes of conquest and settlement. 
They were, however, responsible for the religious and politi- 
cal difficulties which resulted in a steady stream of emigra- 
tion to America during the years between 1620 and the 
outbreak of the Civil War. That this movement was due to 
special causes is shown in the fact that with 1640 it ceased 
to be of importance. It was not until after the close of the 
Napoleonic wars that Englishmen again began in large num- 
bers to seek homes in the new countries beyond the seas. 

The Beginnings of an Imperial Policy. — Brief though it 
was, the rule of Cromwell marks a turning-point in English 
policy. Now, for the first time, the government concerned 
itself, with building up a commercial and colonial empire. 
The foundations of England's maritime importance were 
laid in the triumphs of the Commonwealth's navy, under 
Blake. Henceforth her strength was on the sea, and 
her wars were usually naval. Moreover, England, hitherto 
content with seizing territory occupied by natives only, 
began to make war upon the colonies of the other Euro- 
pean powers. 
Payne, Colonlal Rivalry and the Duel with Holland. — The rivals 

PP- 53-55. of England in the middle of the seventeenth century were 
Spain and Holland. Spain was still the first colonial power 
of the world, but decay had set in and Spanish greatness 
was waning. Holland, on the contrary, was at the height 
of her power, doing the carrying trade of the world, and 
building up her empire at the expense of Spain and Portu- 



The Duel betiveen E^igland and France 411 

gal. England, under Cromwell, made successful war upon 
both the Spanish and the Dutch. The Spanish settlements 
were attacked, and, although an attempt to seize San Do- 
mingo failed, Jamaica passed into the possession of the Jamaica, 
English. The basis of Holland's power, her commercial ^ ^5* 
supremacy, received a twofold blow in the achievements of 
the English navy and in the Navigation Acts of the Long 
Parliament. 

The example of the Commonwealth was followed under 
Charles II. Trade rivalry with Holland continued, and the 
Navigation Laws were renewed (1660). In 1665 war broke 
out. On the sea the two powers were still well matched, 
and England met with alternate success and defeat. By the 
peace of Breda which closed the war (1667), England gave Peace of 
up her claim to Pularoon, thus losing her hold upon the ^'^'^^^' ^^^7' 
Spice Islands of the East ; but in return she was secured 
in her possession of St. Helena, off the coast of Africa, valu- 
able as a calling station, and what was of greater importance, 
she fell heir to the Dutch colonies in America. After the 
founding of settlements in the Carolinas and Pennsylvania 
the English possessions stretched in an unbroken line for 
nearly a thousand miles along the Atlantic coast of North 
America. No other power could boast so extensive a 
group of colonies peopled by men of the home race. 

In accordance -with the terms of the treaty of Dover 
(1670), the war with Holland was renewed, but the feeling 
was becoming general that it was a mistake to make war 
on the Dutch. Holland was a waning, England a growing 
power. England ceased to fear the rivalry of the Dutch, 
Holland needed the aid of the English. The old was swal- 
lowed up in the new and greater fear of France. The duel 
between the two northern sea-powers may be said to end 
w^ith the peace of 1674. Henceforth the two nations drew 
together, united by a common fear of the French. 

The Duel between England and France. — The close of the 
Thirty Years' War left France dominant on the continent. 
Under Louis XIV France became the most powerful coun- 



412 



Colonial Expansion 



Aims of 
Louis XIV. 



try in Europe. Her population was almost three times that 
of England. Her army rose steadily from one hundred 
thousand in 1650 to half a million at the beginning of the 
next century. Her navy could hold its own against the 
English or the Dutch. By the centralization of the govern- 
ment under Richelieu, all these resources were placed at the 
absolute disposal of the king. 

Great as were the resources of Louis XIV, they were out- 
stripped by his ambition. PVom the beginning of his rule 
in 1660 till his final defeat in 1713, he was ceaselessly plan- 
ning to extend his power. Schemes of continental aggran- 
dizement were accompanied by attempts to develop the 
French colonial empire. The direction which Louis gave 
to the policy of France outhved him, and for half a century 
after the death of the Great Monarch the French were still 
strugghng to attain the double goal of continental supremacy 
and colonial expansion. 

From the continental point of view the occasion for the 
wars of the eighteenth century was usually dynastic. There 
was the war of the Spanish succession, and the war of the 
Austrian succession, and the Seven Years' War between 
Frederick II of Prussia and Maria Theresa. England took 
part in all these great contests, but her object was uniformly 
the extension of colonial and commercial power, her interest 
was wholly determined by her rivalry with France. This is 
shown in the invariable accompaniment of fighting in 
America, in the King WilHam's War and the Queen Anne's 
War, and the French and Indian wars of the colonists. 

At the close of the seventeenth century the efforts of Col- 
pp. 80-82, 83, bgj-t;^ ^-^e great French minister, had placed France in the 
foremost rank of colonial powers. She had established her- 
self in India, in Africa, and in the West Indies. Her hold 
upon the American continent seemed far more assured than 
England's. She controlled the St. Lawrence and the Mis- 
sissippi, the two great waterways of America, and Canada, 
Acadia, and Louisiana were in her possession. The English 
colonies were blocked by the Spanish on the south, on the 



Colonial 
wars. 



Payne, 



France in 
America. 



The Second Hundred Yeai's War 



413 



north, and toward the west, by the French. In 1701 PhiHp 
of Anjou accepted the Spanish crown, and Louis declared 
with truth, " The French and Spanish nations are so united 
that they will henceforth be only one." To the ambition 
and enterprise of the French was now joined Spain's vast 



sYlSH MILES 
400 bOO 




97 Longitude West from 82 Greenwich 



P1BMAY & CO., ENGR'S. N.Y. 



colonial power. England's fears were aroused at the dan- 
gers that menaced her commercial and colonial importance, 
and she made ready to resist the encroachments of her 
great rival. 

The Second Hundred Years' War. — The declaration of Seeiey, 
war in 1689 opened a century -long duel between the (jfE^Jiand 
French and the Enghsh. It has been well called, a Lecture li. 



414 



Colonial Expansion 



Treaty of 

Utrecht, 

1713- 



Treaty of 
Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle, 1748. 



Peace of 
Paris, 1763. 



Second Hundred Years' War. Sixty-four out of the one 
hundred and twenty-six years that divide the Revolution 
from the battle of Waterloo were spent in war. England 
took part in seven great contests, and all either began 
as wars with France or speedily became such. The con- 
tending forces met not only on European battle-fields, 
but in Acadian forests, on the heights above Quebec, before 
the rude fortresses that controlled the remote valleys of the 
Ohio and the Mississippi, on the plains of India. 

For half a century England's success in the duel with 
France was almost unbroken. Each peace saw her posi- 
tion strengthened. By the treaty of Utrecht in 17 13 she 
secured. the Hudson Bay territory, Acadia or Nova Scotia, 
and Newfoundland in the New World, and Minorca and 
Gibraltar in the Mediterranean. The long peace of Wal- 
pole's ministry was for both England and France a time 
of recuperation. In 1744 they renewed the struggle for 
empire under cover of the Austrian Succession War, but the 
conflict was a drawn battle, the successes of the English in 
America were counterbalanced by the achievements of Du- 
pleix, agent of the French Company in India. In 1748 the 
treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle put an end to the war in Europe, 
but elsewhere there was scarcely any cessation of hostilities. 
In India, Dupleix continued, with splendid energy, to develop 
his plans for the expulsion of the English and the establish- 
ment of a great French empire, while in America the efforts 
of the French to secure the connection between the Mississippi 
valley and Canada led to the outbreak of a colonial war. 

In 1756 England and France grappled in a final struggle. 
The war opened disastrously for the Enghsh, but it ended 
in their complete triumph. " Our bells," wrote Horace 
Walpole, "are worn threadbare with ringing for victories." 
The peace of Paris in 1763 marked the culminating point 
of England's success. By it she acquired the French 
possessions in America and many of the West Indian 
islands, and secured her hold in India. In the race for 
empire, England had distanced all her rivals. 



' Colonial Policy of the Eighteenth Century 415 

The causes for the defeat of France are not far to seek. Triumph of 
The French people showed Httle inclination to emigrate, "^ ^" " 
and the French settlements were rather military and trad- 
ing-posts, than true colonies. Despotism, moreover, such 
as characterized the France of Louis XIV, was not favor- 
able to the growth of colonies, no matter how beneficent in 
intention. And, above all else, France was attempting too 
much. Not even her splendid resources were equal to the 
double task of building up a great state at home and a 
great empire abroad. 

The Colonial Policy of the Eighteenth Century. — Before Green, 
twenty years were passed France had ample revenge for the p^yne, ^'^°* 
humiliation of the peace of Paris. By statesmen of the pp. 98, 99, 
eighteenth century a colony was regarded not as an exten- 102-104. 
sion of national territory — an opportunity for national 
expansion — but as a piece of property, an estate to be 
exploited in the interest of the country owning it. Spain, 
Portugal, and Holland treated their foreign possessions as 
mere sources of supply for gold and silver, tropical fruits 
and spices. England's colonies produced none of these, Payne, 
but they might be made a market for home products, and ^^^^ Z^'^^^' 
a source of raw material for the rising manufactures of the 123-125. 
mother country. "The only use of American colonies or 
West Indian islands," said Lord Sheffield, "is the monop- 
oly of their consumption, and the carriage of their prod- 
uce." In conformity with this doctrine, the English 
government imposed restrictions on colonial trade which 
were calculated to insure its profits to the home country. 
All exports must be sent to England, and all trade must be 
carried on in English vessels. Colonial industries were 
discouraged, the smelting of iron and the exportation of 
woollen goods being actually forbidden. It is true that 
many of these restrictions were not rigorously enforced, 
and a few became practically obsolete through disuse. 
Walpole succeeded in obtaining some relaxation of the 
laws, and he openly connived at the brisk smuggling 
trade that had sprung up in the colonies. 



41 6 Colonial Expansion 

But in financial matters Walpole was far in advance of 
his time, and under the administration of Grenville a 
Green, change came. Grenville was honest and conscientious, 

pp- 734. 735- but of a narrow, legal turn of mind. Smuggling was a 
breach of the law, and he sent English men-of-war to sup- 
press it. He held that England had the right to tax her 
colonies, and he refused to consider the expediency of 
exercising the right. His measures were resisted in Amer- 
ica. Resistance met with compulsion. The outcome was 
war and independence. 
Green, Europe and the American War. — In the American war 

pp- 739-744> England was handicapped by the three thousand miles of 
Bright, III, sea that lay between her and her rebellious subjects, more- 
1095, 1096, over, she made the mistake of despising the men who 
^^^°" opposed her. Furthermore, she was forced to pay the price 

of her past successes on the continent. Jealousy of Eng- 
land was one of the controlling forces of European politics 
after the peace of Paris. By 1780 England was involved 
in war with France, Spain, and Holland, and, under the 
leadership of Catharine of Russia, the northern powers had 
banded together in an armed neutrality to resist the com- 
mercial claims of the English. England strove in vain to 
obtain aid from Russia, offering to cede Minorca, in return 
for troops. Her isolation in Europe was complete, and 
she was forced to give way. The failure of the French 
and Spanish to capture Gibraltar and the destruction of 
the French fleet by Rodney off Dominica were all that 
Treaty of saved her colonial empire from annihilation. By the 
Versailles, treaty of Versailles (1783), that closed the war, England 
was forced to recognize the independence of the American 
colonies. To Spain she gave back Minorca and Florida, 
to France most of her settlements and colonies in India 
and Africa and the West Indies. Friends and foes alike 
believed with Lord Shelburne that England's sun had set. 
Bright, III, The East India Company. — The generation which saw 

1113, 1114. England stripped of the best of her colonies in the New 
World witnessed the founding of her great empire on the 



INDIA, SHOWING ROUGHLY THE GROWTH OF THE BRITISH POWER 

Under EngUslxProtection 15%%^ 



English Possessions. 



_^li 




BOBMAY i CO.,ENGB'S,N.Y. 



2 E 



41 8 Colonial Expansion 

1497. other side of the globe. Vasco da Gama's discovery of a 

new route to India round the Cape of Good Hope renewed 
the connection between Europe and India which had been 
broken since the time of Alexander the Great. The first to 
take advantage of Da Gama's discoveries were the Portu- 
guese, and by the middle of the sixteenth century they had 
established themselves on the western coast of India, from 
Payne, Goa to Omiuz. Toward the end of the century the Dutch 

6^'6^2^~^ ' appeared, and they secured a foothold both on the main- 
land and in the Spice Islands. 
East India England's connection with India began with the estab- 

1600^^"^' lishment of the East India Company in 1600. The object 
of the company was to secure a share of the trade of the 
East. Their progress at first was slow, but before the close 
of the seventeenth century they had succeeded in establish- 
ing the three factories of Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta. 
Dutch and Portuguese rivalry was dying out, and England's 
monopoly of the Indian trade seemed assured when a new 
and more dangerous competitor appeared. 

Not until the reign of Louis XIV did France enter the 
Indian field, but the French company, which was formed 
in 1684, showed great enterprise and speedily established 
'flourishing trading-posts at Chandernagor on the Hugli, 
Pondicherry, eighty miles south of Madras, and in Mauri- 
tius and the Isle de Bourbon. About the middle of the 
eighteenth century the English and French companies came 
into active competition. ^ 

Bright, III, Dupleix. — In 1707 the long and successful reign of 

^^^5- Aurung-Zeb, the greatest of the Mogul emperors, came to 

a close. Aurung-Zeb had succeeded in establishing the 
Mogul supremacy over most of the main part and penin- 
sula of India, but upon his death his great empire began 
at once to break up. Power fell into the hands of nabobs 
or viceroys who were practically independent, although 
nominally owing allegiance to the court of Delhi. India 
sank rapidly into a state of chronic war, torn by invasions 
and rebellions and quarrels over disputed successions. 



pp. 113-115. 



Rise of Robert Clive 



419 



The governor of the French presidency of Pondicherry 
was Dupleix, a man of great force and genius. With 
remarkable penetration Dupleix saw the possibilities of 
Indian politics, and the methods to be pursued, and he 
went to work with much patience and adroitness to build 
up a French empire in India. The rivalries and quarrels 
of the native princes were his opportunity, but the secret 
of his success lay in his realization of the two facts that 
while the untrained native armies could not stand against 
European discipline, it was possible to impart that dis- 
cipline and efficiency to native levies. Backed by sepoys, 
hired native troops led and drilled by Europeans, he 
proceeded to interfere in Indian affairs wherever oppor- 
tunity offered, holding the balance of power, placing his 
claimant upon the throne, and finally securing controlling 
influence. So great was his success, that by 1750 he had 
obtained complete ascendency in the Carnatic, and was 
practically supreme over the whole of the Deccan. 

Rise of Robert Clive. — The East India Company watched 
anxiously Dupleix's rapid advance, but seemed powerless 
to check it. The crisis brought forward Robert Clive, a 
clerk in the Company's service, and his energy and skill 
saved English influence from extinction. He collected a 
small English and sepoy force, rallied some of the native 
princes to his side, and succeeded in inflicting several 
damaging defeats upon the French. This was the turning- 
point in the contest. Dupleix, who had received no sup- 
port from the home government, was recalled in 1754, and 
he had no successor capable of carrying on the work so 
well begun. 

The outbreak of the Seven Years' War was accompanied 
by a renewal of the struggle in India. Now for the first 
time the English came into direct conflict with the native 
rulers. Acting under French influence Surajah Dowlah, 
nabob of Bengal, attacked and captured the English settle- 
ment of Calcutta in 1756. The English who were taken 
prisoners were thrown into a tiny cell, the "Black Hole," 



Bright, III, 
III6, III7. 

Schemes of 
Dupleix. 



Green, 

pp. 721-723, 

745- 

See Macau- 
lay's essay on 
Clive. 



The " Black 
Hole." 



1I20. 



420 Colonial Expansion 

and kept there during the fierce heat of an Indian summer 

night. When morning came only twenty-three out of one 

hundred and forty-six were alive. The English from Madras 

took speedy revenge. Calcutta was recaptured, and in June, 

Plassey, 1757, Clive, with a small force of English and sepoys, de- 

^757- feated Surajah Dowlah's army at Plassey. By this victory 

the English company obtained supreme control over Bengal, 

a territory of some thirty million inhabitants. Two years 

later the French were defeated at Wandewash by Coote, one 

of Clive' s lieutenants, and with the surrender of Pondi- 

cherry in January, 1761, the power of the French in India 

Bright, III, came to an end. The peace of Paris left the English 

without a European rival in India. 

Growth bf the Indian Dominion. — After 1760 the power 
of the English grew rapidly at the expense of the native 
princes. There were frequent outbreaks, due partly to the 
aggressions of the English Company, and partly to the 
continued intrigues of the French. England's wars in 
Europe and America had their invariable accompaniment 
of conflict in the East. In India the English were almost 
uniformly successful. In their dealings with the natives 
they were skilful and often unscrupulous, and they had the 
support of a large sepoy force created in imitation of the 
policy of Dupleix. In 1765 the Company formally took 
over the government of Bengal, thus becoming in name as 
well as in fact princes of India. 

Step by step the English advanced until, at the close 
of the Mahratta war in 1805, the Company controlled, 
directly or indirectly, a large part of the Indian peninsula 
and immense provinces in the interior. The movement, 
which began in 1748 with the creation of a small sepoy 
force to protect the trading interests of the East India 
Company, had resulted in the establishment of a great 
empire. 

Control by Parliament. — Already, however, many im- 
portant changes in the relations of India and England had 
taken place. The anomaly of a trading company exer- 



The New Colonial Policy 421 

cising sovereign rights over extensive territories and 
millions of people could not fail to excite attention. 
Serious mismanagement of the Company's affairs gave 
Parliament a chance to interfere. Upon the report of an 
investigating company, Lord North formed the Regulating 
Act of 1773. The Company received a loan for which it Bright, III, 
had applied, and in addition the concession of exporting "^2* 
its bonded tea to America without paying duty. On the 
other hand Parliamentary control was increased by the 
appointment by Parliament of a council and governor- 
general to carry on the government of India. 

Still the old evils continued. The Company cared for 
dividends and was indifferent to the welfare of the subject 
people. Officials were poorly paid, and sought to enrich 
themselves by plundering the natives. Warren Hastings, Green, 
the first governor-general, was able and energetic, and he PP^ 74S-748, 
did much to strengthen the foundations of English control, see Macau- 
But he was violent and unscrupulous, and was guilty of lay's essay on 
extortion and cruelty. In 1784 Pitt carried a bill estab- ^^^^'"S^- 
lishing a dual system of control over India. All business PijJ's l"dia 
and all patronage, with a few important exceptions, were 
left in the hands of the Company and the government was 
still in its name, but the whole political authority was trans- Bright, III, 
f erred to a new ministerial department, the Board of Con- "35- 

trol. 

Impeachment of Hastings. —In 1785 Warren Hastings 
returned to England, and was at once attacked in Parlia- 
ment and impeached for acts of tyranny committed in 
India. His trial, made famous through the eloquence of 
Burke and Sheridan, dragged on until 1795, and in the Green, 
end Hastings was acquitted, but his policy as well as his PP- 752. 753. 
methods had already been superseded in India. In 1786 
Lord Cornwallis was sent out as governor-general. He 
remained in power until 1798, and through his efforts the 
administration was thoroughly reformed. 

The New Colonial Policy. — After the loss of the American 
colonies there remained to England, besides the Indian 



422 Colonial Expansion 

dependency, whose importance was not yet realized, only 
Canada and Nova Scotia, some of the West Indies, Gib- 
raltar, and a few places off the coast of Africa. Her posi- 
tion as a colonial power seemed forfeited. The lessons 
of the war were not lost, however. The government's 
interference in Indian affairs and the calling of Hastings 
to account testify to a growing sense of responsibility for 

Pa\-ne,^ the welfare of the subject population in India. In 1791 

a constitution, modelled after that of England, was granted 

The Canada Canada. The results were not whollv satisfactory, the 

Act, 179 1. ^ ^ ' 

executive department was still responsible to the English 
Parliament, but in intention the new^ constitution was lib- 
eral. Except in connection with commerce, matters of 
taxation were under the control of the provincial legis- 
latures of Upper and Lower Canada. 



Important Events 

1588. Defeat of Spanish Armada. 

1600. Establishment of East India Company. 

1606. Beginning of permanent settlemejiits in America. 

1620-1640. Settlement of New England. 

1 65 1. Na\dgation Act. 

1651.I 

1665. \ War with Holland. 

1672. J 

1657. Capture of Jamaica. 

1667. Seizure of Dutch Settlements in America. 

1674. End of Dutch rivalry. 

1689-1815. Contest between France and England. 

1713. Peace of Utrecht. England's maritime supremacy 

1744. Rivalry of French and English in India. 

1757. Plassey. England and the native power. 

1763. Peace of Paris. Overthrow of French power in America 

and India. 
1765. Stamp Act. 

1783. Independence of American Colonies. 

1784. Pitt's India Bill. 

1787. Beginning of Australian Colonization. 
1802. Peace of Amiens. Territorial conquests. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE GRO\VTH OF DEMOCRACY 
Books for Consultation 

Sources 

Smith, Life and Speeches of John Bright. 

Macaulay, Speeches. 

Gladstone, Speeches. 

Adams, Representative British Orations. 

Special Authorities 

McCarthy, History of Our Own Times, England under Gladstone^ 

Sir Robert Peel. 
Morley, Cobden, Gladstone (in preparation). 
May, Constitutional History of England. 

Imaginatr'e Literature 

Mulock, John Halifax, Gentleman. 

Kingsley, Alton Locke. 

Disraeli, Coningsby. 

Tennyson, Locksley Hall, L^ocksley Hall Seventy Years After. 

Napoleonic Wars. — The war with France was renewed 
within thirteen months after the signing of the treaty 
of Amiens. The grounds of contention were changed. 
Henceforth England fought, not to restore the deposed 
Bourbons, but to check the aggressions of an upstart prince. 
Napoleon Bonaparte, who had negotiated the peace of 
1 80 1 as chief of the French Republic, was elected Consul 
for life in 1802, and Emperor in 1804. Europe watched 
his advancement with apprehension. There was reason to 
believe that his ambition was not limited to France, that 
he aimed to found an empire comparable to that of Charle- 

423 



424 



TJie Growth of Democracy 



Bright, III, 
1237. 



Renewal of 
war, 1803. 

Bright, III, 
1238-1241. 



Trafalgar, 
iBos. 



Bright, III, 
1247-1253, 
I 260-1 265. 



magne. Certain high-handed dealings with the Swiss and 
Italian states menaced the balance of power and gave 
umbrage to the courts of Europe. England was affronted 
by Napoleon's pretensions to Malta, her recent acquisition 
in the Mediterranean, and by his demand that the fugitive 
Bourbons be denied asylum under the British flag. Adding- 
ton undertook to negotiate with the overbearing conqueror, 
but was forced by the rising wrath of the nation to declare 
war (1803). The emperor caught up the gauntlet with 
eagerness and prepared for a decisive struggle with the 
hereditary foe of France. A great army was gathered at 
Boulogne, thousands of transports were provided, and every- 
thing made ready for a swift descent on England. "The 
Channel is but a ditch," said he; "any one can cross it 
who has but the courage to try." He had not learned the 
lesson of history. For two years he watched his chance for 
the crossing, but the water bulwarks of the island kingdom 
proved an insuperable obstacle. 

No such peril had threatened England since the Armada, 
and the best energies of the nation were rallied to the de- 
fence. The enlistment of three hundred and fifty thousand 
volunteers brought the military defence of the kingdom up 
to a figure never before or since attained. Watch towers 
were built along the southern coast, and a formidable fleet 
guarded the Channel. Napoleon had given orders to the 
French admiral to decoy Nelson's squadron to the West 
Indies, and then swiftly return to protect the vessels en- 
gaged in transporting the army of invasion, but Nelson 
was not so easily outwitted. He recrossed the Atlantic in 
advance of the French fleet, and in time to prevent the 
embarkation. In the battle of Trafalgar (1805), the navy 
of France was cut to pieces, and Napoleon was obliged to 
abandon his cherished purpose of subjugating England. 

The Continental System. — P'oiled in this enterprise, the 
emperor hit upon a new device for destroying his great 
antagonist. He had, by 1806, succeeded in reducing the 
principal European states to the position of dependents or 



The Continental System 



425 



servile allies, and the coast of the continent from the Bal- 
tic to the Adriatic was under his control. He thus had it 
in his power to regulate the commercial relations of all 
important European ports. The Berlin Decree, issued in Berlin 
1806, forbade the subjects of France or of any allied ^<^ree, i 
power to trade with England or with England's colonies. 




Nelson 

Thus British vessels were excluded from all the harbors of 
Europe except those of Sicily, Sardinia, Sweden, and Portu- Bright, ill, 
gal. The blow was cunningly aimed at the very source of '^'^^^^ ^^78. 
England's strength. Her merchants had attained a prac- 
tical monopoly of the carrying trade between Europe, 
America, and the Orient. Her manufacturers were making 
goods in excess of domestic demand, and relied upon the 
European market to absorb the surplus. The wealth pro- 
ducers of the realm were threatened with ruin. 



426 



The Growth of Democracy 



Bright, III, 

1278, 1279. 



Bright, III. 
1287-1321. 



Waterloo, 
1814. 



Treaty of 
Vienna, 1815. 



The Orders in Council. — England had no recourse but 
retaliation. The Order in Council, issued in 1807, forbade 
all trade with France or her subject-allies. Vessels, neutral 
or otherwise, entering the blockaded ports, did so at the 
risk of capture and confiscation. This was no empty threat, 
for English battleships guarded every important coast town, 
lying in wait for prizes. In the end the continental sys- 
tem worked more harm to Napoleon than to England. 
British merchant vessels ran no risk of seizure, and found 
profitable employment in smuggling goods into the for- 
bidden markets. The contraband imports sold at enor- 
mous prices. This was a heavy tax to pay for the imperial 
regime, and men protested against the meaningless sacri- 
fice. The continental system had much to do with the 
final revolt against Napoleon. 

The Peninsular War (i 808-1 81 4). — When, at last, Eng- 
land came face to face with her great antagonist, it was 
not on English nor yet on French soil, but in Spain. The 
revolt of the Spanish people against the Bonaparte king 
imposed upon them by Napoleon, gave England the long- 
sought opportunity to get a foothold on the continent. 
Men and money were poured into the Peninsula, and for 
six years an English army under Wellington fought for the 
independence of Spain. The emperor recognized that the 
situation was critical, and devoted the best of his troops 
to the reconquest of the country, but to no avail. The 
French were expelled from Madrid (1812), and forced to 
retreat northward, losing fortress after fortress, until they 
were driven beyond the Pyrenees. In the spring of 18 14, 
Wellington's army appeared in southern France, ready to 
join the forces sent by the powers allied with England for 
the last bout with Napoleon. In the battle of Waterloo 
(1814), which completed the ruin of the emperor, Wel- 
lington and the veterans of the Peninsular War bore a 
leading part. 

Results of the Napoleonic Wars. — Territorially England 
gained little from this long and costly war, but her acqui- 



American War {1812-18 is) 427 

sitions were such as to be of great advantage to commerce. 
Malta and the Ionian Islands were strategic points in the 
Mediterranean. Mauritius gave a new coaling station in the 
Indian Ocean, while the Dutch settlements at the Cape of 
Good Hope made an important addition to the list of Eng- 
lish colonies. 

Far more notable than these territorial winnings was 
the maritime ascendency attained by England's navy, and 
the advance in political prestige due to the important ser- 
vices rendered by her generals and diplomatists. The Traill, ll, 
ambition of Edward I was at last fulfilled — Britain was '^^' '^^^ ^'^^' 
in reality mistress of the seas. The great fleets of France 
and Spain had been destroyed at Trafalgar, and there was no 
other in Europe that dared to dispute British supremacy. 
English merchantmen enjoyed an unquestioned monopoly 
of European trade. Their only rivals, the American ship- 
masters, had been well-nigh ruined by the commercial 
legislation arising out of the Napoleonic wars. 

American War (1812-1815). — During the closing years 
of the great continental struggle, England was involved in 
a secondary war not so glorious by half. The arbitrary 
restrictions on neutral trade had worked havoc with the 
commerce of the United States. The outraged Yankees 
imputed the whole blame to England, because American 
vessels were continually challenged for contravening the 
Orders in Council, while Napoleon had no means of en- 
forcing his no less obnoxious decrees. A further griev- 
ance against England was her assumption of the right to 
impress into the king's service English seamen wherever 
found. Thousands of British-born sailors had made their 
way to America, and, after becoming naturalized citizens 
of the United States, had enlisted in the navy or found 
employment on merchant vessels. The men were sorely 
needed to man English warships, and in accordance with 
the contemporary doctrine of inalienable allegiance — 
"Once an Englishman always an Englishman" — British 
naval commanders were authorized to overhaul American 



428 The Growth of Democracy 

vessels in search of renegades. The practice was bitterly 
protested on this side the Altantic, and in 181 2 Congress 
was driven to declare war against the mother country. 
England was preoccupied in the contest with Napoleon, 
and sent an inadequate force to meet the new antagonist. 
The Yankees were not unworthy their inheritance, and soon 
proved adepts at sea-fighting. To their lasting chagrin. 
Englishmen saw themselves beaten on their own element. 
Treaty of The treaty of Ghent was primarily a treaty for peace. No 
ent, I 14. niention was made of the grounds of contention, the right 
of search and the privileges of neutral trade, but America 
won her point in that the prerogatives then protested have 
never been reasserted by the English government. 
Bright, III, The Reform Movement. — The first effect produced on 

1325-132 . English thought by the French Revolution had been a 
strong aversion to the political doctrine that could give 
birth to such horrors. A wave of reaction passed over 
the country, discrediting progressive statesmen and sweep- 
ing all reform projects into oblivion. But England could 
not long remain ignorant of the lasting significance of that 
tremendous revolt against arbitrary government. France 
was indeed conquered in 18 15 and the Bourbons restored, 
but the great achievements of the Revolution were not 
undone. Just laws and a liberal constitution were secured 
to the French people by the very monarchs who had under- 
taken the crusade in behalf of Louis XVI. , 

During the twenty years of war, the cause of English 
liberty had lost much and gained nothing. Absorbed in 
the long struggle with Napoleon, the Tory ministers had 
given little thought to the national well-being. Enthu- 
siasm for the war, pride in its triumphant conclusion and 
in the new prestige acquired by England, the champion of 
oppressed nationalities, together with a certain fictitious 
prosperity accruing to trade and manufactures, had blinded 
men's eyes to the heavy cost of the conflict. Peace once 
declared, the nation began to balance accounts. The war 
debt amounted to ^831,000,000. The financial pressure 



The Reform Writers 429 

was such that the Bank of England suspended specie pay- 
ment (1797), and for twenty-two years the country had to 
be content with a depreciating paper currency. The con- 
sequent rise in prices was exaggerated by the hazards of 
trade with the continent and by a series of bad harvests 
which brought food up to famine rates. In the last years 
of the war, the price of wheat rose to 171^-. a quarter. 
Nevertheless the Corn Law of 1815, which prohibited the 
importation of grain until the price should reach 8oi". a 
quarter, was vigorously maintained by the landlord class, 
who secured the lions' share of the profits of this protec- 
tive legislation. The prosperity of the landlord and the 
farmer was not shared by the agricultural laborer, who, 
during these years of extraordinary prices, was steadily 
sinking into misery and want. Wages could not cover the 
cost of subsistence, and had to be supplemented from 
the poor rates. At the moment when England attained 
the acme of her military renown, her laboring people were 
being reduced to pauperism. 

Reform Writers. — National glory won at such cost was Bright, ill, 
not cause for congratulation. Men were found bold enough ^331-1333. 
to assert that while warring against the continental sys- 
tem, England allowed more hateful impositions to pass 
unchallenged within her own boundaries. A revulsion of 
feeling characterized the second and third decades of the 
nineteenth century. The writers of the day were first to 
recognize that the ideals of the French Revolution were 
far in advance of English conceptions of justice and right. 
Wordsworth had greeted with rapture the birth of democ- Browning's 
racy in France, but the violence of the Jacobins filled him ^(>^^ Leader. 
with such despair as to chill his faith in the ability of the 
people for self-government. Shelley's democratic idealism 
could, however, ignore the ugly facts of the Revolution. 
Byron struck telling blows for freedom in his wild revolt 
against convention and dogma, while Burns, the Ayrshire 
ploughman, voiced the people's protest against class ine- 
qualities : — 



430 The Growth of Democracy 

« For a' that and a' that, 
Our toils obscure, and a' that, 
^ The rank is but the guinea's stamp, 

The man's the gowd for a' that." 

Reform Politicians. — In 1819, the advocates of democ- 
racy formed the Radical party. The movement originated 
with Cobbett's Weekly Political Registe?-, a twopenny sheet 
that had a wide circulation and enormous influence among 
the working classes. The Radicals voiced the prevailing 
discontent and proposed legislative reforms that should 
give the people more influence in government. Redistri- 
bution of the representation, manhood suffrage, and annual 
Parliaments were presented as the steps necessary to insure 
Bright, III, the expression of the popular will. In order that the un- 
^^^^' represented people might make their purpose felt, mass 

meetings were held, secret associations were formed,^ and 
propagandist literature was scattered far and wide. 

The government, abnormally suspicious of any popular 
movement, determined to crush the malcontents. A politi- 
cal demonstration at Spa Fields, London (1816), was broken 
up by the police. Three years later, a convention held in 
Manchester for the purpose of electing a "legislatorial 
representative " for that unrepresented town, was raided by 
a military force and seventy persons were injured. The 
Manchester Massacre, or the battle of Peterloo,^ as it 
was derisively called, roused intense indignation, but the 
Bright, III, Radicals were discredited by the attempt of a group of 
^2 ^' fanatics to assassinate the ministry, and Parliament passed 

a series of laws imposing severe penalties on sedition. It 
was becoming every year more evident that the government 
was quite independent of the people, since the House of 
Commons represented only the landed gentry and the upper 
middle classes. 

The Reform Bill of 1832. — The continental revolutions of 
1830, which secured constitutional government for France, 

1 E.g. the Hampden Clubs. 

2 The meeting was held in St. Peter's Field. 



432 The Growth of Democracy 

of seats among the counties and hitherto unrepresented 
towns, and the extension of the borough franchise to all 
ten-pound householders.-^ The bill was received with de- 
risive cheers from the Tory benches, and, though cordially 
endorsed by the king and maintained by all the influence 
the ministry could bring to bear, it was defeated on the 

Bright, III, third reading by a majority of eight. The government 
' determined to have recourse to the people. The dissolu- 
tion of Parliament was declared by the king in person 
on April 22, and through May and June the country rang 
with the excitement of the campaign. The result was 
even better than the Whigs had hoped. When the bill 
came to its third reading in the new House of Commons 
(September 21), it passed by a majority of one hundred 
and nine. The measure had still, however, to run the 
gauntlet of the peers. The upper house did not deign 
to admit the bill to consideration, but threw it out on the 
first reading by a majority of forty-one. 

Bnght, III, 'fhe rejection, by a privileged and non-representative 

body, of a ineasure which had the enthusiastic support of 
the great majority of the nation roused intense indigna- 
tion throughout the country. Political unions were formed 
with a view to bringing public opinion to bear upon the re- 
actionary legislators. A reform programme was announced 
which went so far as to propose the abolition of all heredi- 
tary privileges and distinctions of rank. The Lords could 
not but be influenced by the popular agitation, violent 
and ill-advised though it sometimes was, and when a new 
reform bill came up for its second reading in the upper 
house, the ministry succeeded in obtaining a majority of 
nine. A motion to postpone final action was, neverthe- 
less, carried (May 7, 1832), and this was practical defeat. 
Driven to extremities. Lord Grey appealed to the king to 
overcome the opposing majority by the creation of new 
peers. This was refused, and the ministry resigned. An 

1 I.e. to adult males owning property to the annual value of ;i^io. 



1427 



Effects of Reform 433 

attempt to form a Tory Cabinet under the Duke of Welling- 
ton failed. The popular protest was overwhelming. The 
Whig papers came out in mourning, and petitions were 
sent up to Parliament signed by thousands of the unrepre- 
sented. The agitators announced their determination to 
march to London in numbers sufficient to compel regard 
for the nation's will. Wellington dared not resort to 
force, for the military could not be trusted to fight against 
the people. Finally (May 15, 1832) the king recalled 
Lord Grey and sent a circular letter to the peers, request- 
ing them to withdraw their opposition. So compelled, the 
House of Lords approved the bill (June 4, 1832). 

Effects of Reform. — The Reform Act was a signal tri- Bright, ill, 
umph of the popular will over vested right and hereditary 1428-1430. 
privilege. Fifty-six rotten boroughs were disfranchised, 
and thirty were deprived each of one member. The one 
hundred and forty-three memberships so vacated were 
assigned to the more populous counties and thirty-nine 
hitherto unrepresented towns. Thus, after an interval of 
nearly two hundred years, the electoral reform proposed by 
Cromwell was resumed. Representation was not yet, how- 
ever, exactly proportioned to population. Manhood suffrage 
and annual Parliaments were not even broached. But the 
people had got a foothold in the House of Commons and 
might bide their time. The Reform Act of 1832 trans- 
ferred the balance of power from the landed aristocracy to 
the manufacturers and merchants — the dominant classes of 
the newly enfranchised towns. Only fifty Radicals were 
returned to the new Parliament. The populace, though it 
had borne the brunt of the agitation, was not yet intrusted 
with the ballot. The property qualification, an annual 
property income of ^10 in towns and ^50 rental in rural 
districts, excluded all below the rank of well-to-do artisans Bright, iii, 
and tenant-farmers. 1430-1433- 

With the change in the character of representation and 
the consequent change of policy, new party names were 
adopted. The Whigs, led henceforth by the progressive 
2 F 



434 ^^'^^ Growth of Donocracy 

contingent, called themselves Liberals; while the Tories, 
conceiving their function to be the preservation of a time- 
honored constitution, preferred to be known as Conserva- 
tives. 

Reform Legislation. — The reforms undertaken by the 
first Parliament elected on the new basis were directed by 
middle class interests, and fell far short of popular expec- 
tation. An act was passed (1833) emancipating the slaves 
on the West Indian plantations, but with heavy compensa- 
tion to their owners (;^20,ooo,ooo). The Poor Law was 
Bright, III, revised (1834) with a view to checking the growth of 
I442-I445' pauperism. The new act was based on the wholesome 
principles of the Elizabethan law. The able-bodied could 
get no aid from the officials outside the workhouse. 
Only the aged and helpless were relieved in their own 
homes. The measure proved to be both just and merciful, 
but it was bitterly resented by the classes accustomed, for 
a century past, to regard parish aid as the poor man's right. 
Bright, III, More popular measures, e.g. the Factory Act (1833), and 
I45I-I454. ^i^g reform in municipal government (1835), were not ini- 
tiated in the House of Commons, but were forced upon its 
notice by public agitation. 

Chartist Agitation. — Beneficent and necessary as was 
much of this legislation, it did not remove the sense of 
grievance from the minds of the common people, who had 
supported the Reform Act in the hope that a representa- 
tive Parliament would enact more radical measures. The 
bulk of the Liberal party was, however, well content with 
the results attained. Lord John Russell declared in the 
first Parliament convened after the accession of Victoria 
(1837) that reform could not safely be pushed further. 
The disappointment and indignation Of the Radicals was 
intense. Convinced that the people would never get their 
rights till they could send spokesmen to the House of 
Commons, they entered with renewed zeal upon a crusade 
for popular representation. A conference between certain 
prominent Radicals and the working-class leaders was 




Queen Victoria 



The Repeal of the Corn Laws 435 

called in 1838, and a programme for the new campaign 
agreed upon. The "six points " of the People's Charter The People's 
were : annual Parliaments, manhood suffrage, vote by bal- Charter, 
lot, the division of the country into equal electoral dis- 
tricts, abolition of the property qualification for members 
of the lower House, and salaries for the people's repre- 
sentatives. The Chartists, as the agitators called them- Bright, IV, 
selves, advocated Parliamentary reform only as a means to 44- 
an end. The exact nature of that end was as yet unde- 
fined. Socialistic, even anarchistic, schemes were in the 
air, and awakened consternation among the propertied and 
order-loving classes. Malcontents of every party were at- 
tracted to the ranks of the reformers. "Universal suf- 
frage," said a Radical orator, "the meaning of universal 
suffrage is that every working man in the land has a right 
to a good coat, a good roof, a good dinner, no more work 
than will keep him in health, and as much wages as will 
keep him in plenty." 

No effective means of propagating the new gospel was 
neglected. Newspapers and Radical clubs were set on foot 
in every principal town, mass meetings were called at fre- 
quent intervals, and in 1839 the Chartists held a national 
convention. A huge petition was sent to the House of 
Commons bearing 1,200,000 signatures. The petition was 
contemptuously rejected and riotous outbreaks followed 
in divers parts of the kingdom. A second petition was Bright, iv, 
presented in 1842 and met with a like fate. This time the 45- 
petitioners, some three million men, demanded not only 
the "six points," but the repeal of all class legislation, the 
abolition of monopolies, and the redistribution of prop- Bright, iv, 
erty. Demonstrations and riots grew so serious that even 7" 
the Conservative ministry recognized that something must 
be done. 

The Repeal of the Corn Laws. — The repeal of the Corn Ebenezer 
Laws had long been advocated by enlightened Liberals, corliaJ 
who held that the interests of the great manufacturing Rhymes. 
communities ought not to be subordinated to that of the 



436 



The Growth of Democracy 



The Irish 
famine. 



farmers and landlords. The Irish famine brought matters 
to a crisis. The potato crop failed (1845), and some four 
million people were reduced to the verge of starvation. 
Food at lower prices must be provided, whatever the loss 
to the agricultural interest. Early in 1846, Sir Robert 




Robert Peel 

After the original painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence 




Peel, much to the scandal of the Tories, who thought him 
a traitor, and of the Liberals, who accused him of stealing 
their thunder, proposed a corn bill which provided for a 
rapid reduction of duties on imported grains. Despite the 
protests of disappointed politicians, the measure passed 



Chartist Demonstration 437 

both Houses.' Wheat fell immediately to 75^-. a quarter, Bright, iv, 
and the ruinous fluctuation in prices ceased. There is no ^30-138. 
doubt that the removal of the tax on grains greatly relieved 
the sufferings of the poor, but it was scouted by the Chart- 
ists as a mere sop to Cerberus. They were bent on popu- 
lar government. 

Chartist Demonstration (1848). — The year 1848 wit- 
nessed a second epidemic of revolutions throughout the 
continent. Not only France, Germany, and Italy, but 
Austria, the stronghold of despotism, was convulsed by the 
upheaval. Paris, the city of insurrections, was mastered 
by the combined strength of republicans and socialists, 
and a working-class republic was established. This sig- 
nal success of their brothers across the water could not 
but stir the Chartists to new exertions. Under the lead of 
Feargus O'Connor, the democratic agitation came to a 
head. A national convention was assembled in London, 
April 6, 1848, and arrangements were made for a mighty 
demonstration. A monster petition, boasting five million 
signatures, was to be carried to Westminster on the loth, 
by a body of five hundred thousand men. The govern- 
ment was, however, amply forewarned. The Duke of 
Wellington was put in charge of the defence, and compe- 
tent arrangements were made to prevent disorder. The 
Chartists were at odds among themselves as to whether 
they should or should not use force. The more timid and 
level-headed among them withdrew from a project which 
could only result in failure or defeat. Some twenty-five 
thousand finally gathered on Kennington Common, but 
they were frightened by the force arrayed against them, 
and meekly consented to send their petition to the House 
of Commons in a cab. When submitted to examination, 
the five million signatures dwindled to two million, many 
of these evidently bogus. So the most formidable work- Bright, iv, 
ing-class movement England has yet seen, ended in fiasco. 176-178. 

"I In the next few years, all other protective duties were repealed, and 
Great Britain entered upon an epoch of free trade. 



438 The Growth of Democracy 

When brought to the test, Chartism proved to be a mere 
wind-bag blown to portentous dimensions by demagogues 
and would-be politicians. 

Yet the agitation had its valuable results. The people 
were trained to think, to search for the causes of their 
misery, to look for legislative reform. The "classes " were 
compelled to inquire into the condition of the "masses," 
to recognize their own responsibility for the national well- 
being, and to set about measures of redress. The essen- 
tial clauses of the Charter have since been attained — not 
by insurrections and mob violence, but by the characteris- 
tically English method of free discussion and Parliamen- 
tary enactment. 

Palmerston. — The dominant figure in English politics 
for the next seventeen years was Lord Palmerston, the 
most daring diplomatist that has held office in England 
since the elder Pitt. Palmerston was originally a Tory, 
but he joined the Whigs on the Parliamentary reform issue 
and soon became a trusted leader. Essentially conserva- 
tive, Palmerston was content with the measure of represen- 
tation accorded in 1832, and thereafter concerned himself 
little with domestic affairs. His brilliant talents were 
devoted to the prosecution of a vigorous European policy. 
He entered upon the office of Foreign Secretary in 1853 
with the avowed purpose of pushing British interests in the 
East. 

The Eastern Question. — The trade routes to the Orient, 
and hence England's connections with India, lay at the 
mercy of the power controlling the Hellespont and the 
Red Sea. So long as these strategic points were in 
the hands of the Turk, the "sick man " ^ of Europe, the 
government felt secure. That security was now threat- 
ened, however, by Russia's interference in the affairs of the 

1 The Czar Nicholas said to an English ambassador : " We have on our 
hands a sick man, a very sick man; it would be a great misfortune if, one 
of these days, he should slip away from us before the necessary arrange- 
ments have been made," 



The Crimean War {i8j4-i8j6) 439 

Sultan. Nicholas I, "the iron Czar," had demanded that 
he should be accorded the right to protect Greek Christians 
residing in the dominions of the Porte against Moham- 
medan misrule, and, when his request was refused, sent 
troops across the Danube. It was to be feared that the 
Czar might utilize this opportunity to seize Constantinople, 
and thereby secure access to the Mediterranean Sea, the 
traditional goal of Russia's ambition. The protest of Bright, IV, 
Palmerston, although coupled with that of Napoleon III, ^29-239. 
availed nothing, and war was declared in the spring of 
1854. England and France sent a joint force to check 
the Russian advance, and, that being accomplished, moved 
on to attack the Czar's stronghold on the Black Sea, the 
great fortress of Sebastopol. 

The Crimean War (i 854-1 856). — The government had 
been relying on diplomacy and was unprepared for war. 
The country had enjoyed a peace of forty years' duration. 
Not a shot had been fired by British troops on European 
soil since the battle of Waterloo. The army was wonted 
to barrack life, and the men were unprepared for active 
campaigning. Few of the officers had any experience of 
war, and many of them had secured their appointments 
by family or political influence. The commissary depart- 
ment proved quite inadequate to the emergency. Trans- 
portation facilities were lacking in the Crimea, and when 
winter came on the soldiers suffered for lack of food, 
clothing, and shelter, though supplies in abundance had 
been shipped from England. In January, 1855, there were 
but eleven thousand men fit for service; thirteen thousand 
lay sick in the improvised hospitals. The death-roll from 
disease alone amounted in the end to nine thousand. 

Wellington's soldiers had died for lack of supplies in the 
Peninsular service, but there were then no war correspond- 
ents to send home the facts. The telegraph had now 
brought Sebastopol within hearing distance of London, 
and the dreadful details were printed in the daily papers. 
A wave of popular indignation swept Aberdeen from office, 



of the Light 
-Brigade.' 



440 The Growth of Dejnocracy 

and Palmerston was called to take control of the govern- 
ment. Under his vigorous administration supplies were 
poured into the Crimea, a railway was built from the har- 
bor to the scene of operations, medicines were provided, 
and an efficient force of hospital nurses sent out.-^ The 
English troops fought well, but the Russians made stubborn 
"The Charge resistance. Sebastopol was surrendered (September 8, 
1855) after a siege of eleven months, and the Russian 
fortifications were demolished. 
Bright, IV, Results. — The victory had cost England dear. Fully 

243-283. twenty-five thousand men had fallen in battle or died 

in hospital, while the national debt was increased by 
;^5 0,000, 000.^ The gains were but dubious. In the treaty 
of Paris, that terminated the war, England won no per- 
manent advantage. The reinstated Sultan promised to 
respect the liberties of his Christian subjects, but the 
pledge was not fulfilled. The stipulation that the Czar 
should destroy his arsenals on the Black Sea ^ checked the 
Russian advance toward Constantinople, but not for long. 
Palmerston saw clearly that the snake was " scotched, not 
killed "; but the nation was content. The valor of British 
soldiers had made good the shortcomings of the adminis- 
tration. Russia was humiliated and exhausted. The 
Eastern Question seemed settled. 

Electoral Reform again. — Under the leadership of Palm- 
erston, the Liberals were essentially a middle-class party. 
The limitations on county suffrage gave the balance of 
political power to the towns, and legislation was dictated 
by manufacturing and mercantile interests. The men who 
had achieved the reform of 1832 were content with this 
result and deprecated change. Oddly enough, the only 
notable proposition for extension of the suffrage before 
1868 came from the Conservatives. Disraeli, a brilliant 

1 Under the lead of Florence Nightingale many English women went to 
the field. 

2 The war expenses for the three years were estimated at ^77,588,000, 

8 This restriction was abandoned in 1870 after the fall of Napoleon III. 



The Liberals and Extension of the Suffrage 441 

and erratic member of Lord Derby's Cabinet, took advan- 
tage of their brief lease of power to introduce a bill (1859) 
providing for household franchise in town and country alike. 
The measure was intended to give more influence to agra- 
rian interests, and so to conciliate the landed aristocracy. 
A make-weight against democracy was proposed in the 
stipulation allowing additional votes to men of education 
and property. The defeat of the measure was a foregone Bright, IV, 

341- 




John Bright 

From a photograph 



^(ftvy^ ^-U. 



^9 Lt- 



conclusion, but the discussion served to bring the question 
of electoral reform again before the country. 

The Liberals and Extension of the Suffrage. — When the 
death of Palmerston (1865) left the more progressive ele- 
ment of the Liberal party in the ascendant, the work of 



442 The Growth of Democracy 

reform was undertaken in earnest. Immediately upon his 
accession to the premiership, Lord Russell, the life-long 
champion of suffrage extension, framed a measure on which 
he staked the success of his administration. The bill was 
introduced in the House of Commons by Mr. Gladstone, a 
former Peelite, lately turned Liberal. He defended the 
Bright, IV, project with remarkable eloquence, and was ably supported 
419, 420. i^y ^]^g free-trade Radical, John Bright. But the measure 

was a timid makeshift and failed to secure the support of 
the Liberals as a whole. It was defeated in committee, 
and Lord Russell's government immediately resigned (June 
26, 1866). 

The Reform Act of 1867. — The new ministry under 
Lord Derby was made up of stiff Conservatives, but they 
found themselves forced by public feeling to broach the 
question of the suffrage. A reform league made up of 
Radicals and working-class leaders plainly signified the 
determination of the people not to be defrauded of their 
rights by factious politicians. Throughout the summer 
and autumn the country was agitated by popular demon- 
strations, such as had extorted the first Reform Act. An 
attempt to hold a mass meeting in Hyde Park resulted in 
Bright, IV, something very like a riot. Having no choice but to 
4^^- bring in a reform bill or to resign office, the ministry 

finally yielded. Their scheme, originally introduced by 
Disraeli (February 25), was meant to provide against giv- 
ing the balance of power to the working classes, but the 
bill was amended again and again, the government yield- 
ing point by point, until it emerged August 15, 1867, a 
more radical measure than the Liberals themselves would 
have proposed. Borough suffrage was extended to all 
householders paying taxes, and to all lodgers paying £^\q> 
annual rent. In the counties all persons owning property 
Traill, VI, of ^^5 annual value and tenants paying ^12 a year were 
454- entitled to vote. Thus after fifty years' debate were the 

Bric^ht IV 

423-428. ' people admitted to power. Lord Derby characterized the 
measure as a "leap in the dark," and many other Con- 



Irish Affairs 443 

servatives feared for the result; but the party as a whole 
supported the measure, having, as Disraeli said, "been 
educated by events." 

Elementary Education. — "Now," said Robert Lowe, Etementary 
"we must educate our masters." Within three years of Education 
this second extension of the suffrage, Parliament enacted ^'^*' ^^^^° 
that every child in the United Kingdom should receive at 
least a primary education. The limited accommodations 
hitherto provided by the established Church and the vari- 
ous religious sects were to be supplemented by board 
schools, maintained out of the parish rates. The local 
authorities were empowered to compel the attendance of Bright, iv, 
the children within their several districts. A marked fall- 462-466. 
ing off in the number of illiterates has been the result. 620-625. ' 
The proportion of Englishmen who could not sign their 
own names was nineteen out of every hundred in 1873, 
eight in 1888, and four in 1895. 

Irish Affairs. — English party history since 1870 will 
hardly be comprehended without a review of Irish diffi- 
culties. By the Union, Pitt had hoped to secure to Ire- • 
land a just government and to England respite from the 
menace of insurrection and foreign interference that had 
rendered the sister island a perpetual source of anxiety. 
In both respects the measure failed. Pitt's project of 
Catholic emancipation was thwarted by the opposition of 
the king, and no Romanist was admitted to the United 
Parliament. The Irish people felt themselves betrayed, 
and Bonaparte found malcontents ready to lend aid to the 
French in his proposed invasion of England. If the Bright, III, 
imperial troops had been able to effect a landing in 1803, ^^42. 
the English defence might have been paralyzed by an 
uprising in the west. 

Throughout the century, the Irish question has been an 
embarrassment to English politics and party leaders. Ire- 
land has protested vigorously and often effectively against 
the injustices involved in alien rule; against the religious 
bigotry that excluded Romanists from office and extorted 



444 



The Growth of Democracy 



Bright, III, 

1390. 



Bright, III, 
1406-1409. 



O'Connell 
and repeal. 



Bright, IV, 
19-21. 



Bright, IV, 
164-170. 



from a Catholic population tithes for the support of the 
Protestant Church, against the political arrogance that in- 
trusted the government of Ireland to a Cabinet that was 
essentially English, and finally against the system of land 
tenure that forced a starving peasantry to pay rack-rents 
to absentee landlords. 

Catholic Emancipation. — The Irish agitation first took 
the form of a demand for removal of the political disabili- 
ties imposed on Romanists. The Catholic Association, 
organized (1823) by Daniel O'Connell, for bringing pres- 
sure to bear on the government, sent petition after peti- 
tion to the House of Commons. The successive Tory 
ministries held out until 1828, when, revolt being feared, 
Wellington and Peel declared for emancipation. A bill 
was carried through both Houses (1829), providing that a 
Roman Catholic who could take oath to support the State 
and not to injure the established Church should be eligi- 
ble to office. O'Connell was the first Romanist sent to 
the House of Commons as a representative of the Irish 
people. 

Renewed Agitation. — The abolition of religious tests 
was an important concession, but it did not satisfy the 
Irish leaders. Admitted to Parliament, they continued to 
agitate, and with renewed vigor, for the abolition of tithes 
and for the repeal of the Act of Union. The ecclesiastical 
tithes were soon (1838) commuted to a rent charge to be 
paid by the landlord in lieu of the tenant, but the de- 
mand for political independence, English statesmen. Lib- 
eral and Conservative, were agreed in refusing. Resistance 
only fanned the flame of race jealousy. O'Connell had 
always kept within the law, but a new and more vigorous 
element among the repealers, the young Ireland party, 
advocated resort to force and gained immense influence 
with the people. Monster mass meetings were held after 
the fashion of the contemporary Chartist demonstrations, 
and a formidable insurrection seemed imminent. The 
government, falling back on its powers of coercion, forbade 



Gladstone s Irish Policy 445 

the political conventions, arrested the ringleaders and 
threw them into prison. 

The Irish Famine. — Ireland was in a fair way to be sub- 
dued by force when the famine of 1846 gave a new turn to 
the struggle. Thousands of the impoverished people died 
of starvation, thousands more, evicted from their homes 
by the landlords to whom they could pay no rent, drifted 
into the poor-houses. Those who had money to pay for 
the passage took ship for America. The English govern- 
ment repealed the Corn Laws and organized relief work, 
but these well-meant remedies came too late to save the 
situation. The population fell off more than one and one- 
half million ^ in these years of unparalleled misery. The 
depopulated fields were turned into grazing lands, to the Traill, vi, 
great advantage of the proprietors, for cattle paid better '^^l{'^^{^^'^' 
than peasant agriculture. 156-164. 

Fenian Outbreaks. — Ireland seemed silenced, but her 
cause was urged with redoubled energy by her loyal sons in 
America. The Fenians, as this Irish-American party was 
called, did not stop at repeal of the Union. They advo- 
cated nothing less than complete separation. An attempt 
was made (1867) to get possession of the arsenals in Ire- 
land and to carry the war across St. George's Channel, but 
every plot was frustrated. Fenianism, however, effected 
an important change in English opinion. It had become Bright, iv, 
apparent, even to partisan observers, that conditions giving 416-419. 
rise to such persistent hatred must be seriously wrong. 

Gladstone's Irish Policy. — The Liberal party, led by 
Gladstone, accepted the task of ascertaining the actual 
situation and endeavoring to meet Irish discontent with 
adequate measures of relief. In pursuance of this policy 
the Liberal leaders have been led to propose three succes- 
sive reforms; the disestablishment of the English Church 
in Ireland, the modification of land laws in the interest 
of the tenant, and the restoration of the Irish Parliament. 

1 Population of Ireland in 1841, 8,175,124; in 1851, 6,552,385; in 1897, 
4.550.929. 



446 



The Grozvth of Democracy 



Disestablish- 
ment of the 
Irish Church, 



Bright, IV, 
451-454- 
Bright, IV, 

457. 



The initial measure was introduced by Gladstone in the 
first Parliament elected on the reformed basis in 1868. 
The Liberals were in the ascendant, and the bill passed 
the Commons by a majority of one hundred. Indeed, 
it was difficult to find ground for defence of the Episco- 
pal establishment in Ireland. The exclusive privileges 
of the Anglican Church were a direct affront to the Roman 
Catholic population, obliged to contribute directly or 
indirectly to its support. Its annual income from tithes 
and ecclesiastical lands was ^600,000, yet it ministered 
to not more than one-tenth of the people. An Irish mem- 
ber declared that he paid tithes in eight parishes, in not 
one of which was there a church or a resident clergyman. 
The bill was, nevertheless, hotly debated in the House of 
Lords and amended so as to secure larger compensation to 
the disestablished clergy. The House of Commons in- 
sisted on the original form, and the Lords were forced to 
accept a compromise not at all to their liking. 

The disestablishment of the Protestant Church in Ireland 
was quickly followed by the Land Act, which provided that 
the so-called "Ulster right," ^ the form of land tenure cus- 
tomary in the northern counties, should be legal throughout 
Ireland. The measure proposed to secure the three "f's," 
fair rent, fixity of tenure, and free sale of the tenants' 
interest in improvements. The government was further 
pledged to loan money to peasants desiring to purchase 
the land they tilled. ' 

In the bill proposing the reconstitution of Dublin Uni- 
versity, Mr. Gladstone went a step too far and lost his 
Parliamentary majority. The object of the measure was 
to remove religious tests and so provide a non-sectarian 
education for all who desired to avail themselves of it. 
It was opposed by the priests, who objected to secular 
education, and by a large body of Liberals, who dreaded 



1 The custom in Ulster allowed the tenant to remain in possession, even 
without written contract, so long as he paid his rent, and when the holding 
was transferred to receive compensation for improvements. 



Lord Beaconsfield' s Government 447 

Roman Catholic ascendency. Defeated on these grounds, 

Gladstone dissolved 'Parliament and appealed to the 

country. The elections of 1874 gave the Conservatives Bright, iv, 

a majority of fifty, and Gladstone had no choice but to 492-495.499. 

500. 
resign. 

Gladstone's English Policy. — This sudden and over- 
whelming defeat of a reform ministry so soon after the 
extension of the suffrage seems at first inexplicable. Glad- 
stone's government had fulfilled all its pledges. In addi- 
tion to the legislation having special reference to Ireland, 
Parliament had provided for elementary education and a 
secret ballot, opened the civil service to public competi- 
tion, abolished religious tests in the English Universities, 
put an end to the purchase of commissions in the army, 
and introduced a bill for the reform of the law courts. 
The reaction in favor of the Conservatives had originated, 
not in the failure of the Liberal party to achieve the pro- 
posed reforms, but in the constitutional inability of the 
English nation to digest so rich and varied a menu. Re- 
form had gone too fast and too far. The national temper, 
essentially conservative, shrank from so rapid change. 
Disraeli's denunciation of Gladstone's policy expressed 
the sentiment of the country. " You have had four years 
of it; you have despoiled churches, you have threatened 
every corporation and endowment in the country, you have 
examined into everybody's affairs, you have criticised every 
profession and vexed every trade; no one is certain of his 
property, no one knows what duties he may have to per- 
form to-morrow." Furthermore the Liberal government, 
in its zeal for domestic improvement, had somewhat neg- 
lected foreign affairs. In India and in Africa, English 
interests were threatened, and the government, preferring 
negotiation to war, had pursued a policy repugnant to the 
national pride. 

Lord Beaconsfield's Government. — Disraeli ^ succeeded to 

1 Pisraeli was created Earl of Beaconsfield in 1876. 



448 



The Grozvth of Democracy 



Bright, IV, 
518-532. 



the premiership in 1874, pledged to maintain the existing 
order at home and to vindicate the national honor in for- 
eign fields. The Russo-Turkish War (187 7-1 878) gave 




the government an opportunity to show its aggressive for- 
eign policy. It was the old question in a new phase. The 
Christian subjects of the Sultan had risen in revolt, and 



Domestic Legislation 449 

Russia, ever on the alert for opportunity to interfere in the 
affairs of the Porte, sent troops to their aid. The Sultan 
made what resistance he might, but he had not the limit- 
less resources of the Czar. The Russian army seized the 
Turkish strongholds in Bulgaria, crossed the Balkans, and 
advanced to the environs of Constantinople. Then the 
English government intervened, sending men-of-war to 
make a demonstration in the Sea of Marmora. Open 
hostility seemed inevitable, but Alexander II gave assur- 
ance that the occupation of Constantinople was not in- 
tended. At the instance of Austria, a conference of the Berlin 
European powers was convened at Berlin to settle the Congress, 
points in dispute, and there Beaconsfield played a leading 
role. England's traditional Eastern policy was once more 
triumphant. The Russian advance was checked, the integ- 
rity of the Porte was guaranteed, the Christian province 
of Rumelia was restored to the Sultan, who made worthless 
promises of good government. 

The sacrifice of the Christian populations of Turkey to 
England's Oriental interests had been strenuously protested 
by Gladstone and the Liberals, but Beaconsfield had a great 
majority in the House of Commons, and could rely on the 
unflinching support of the Tories. In a secret treaty with 
the Porte, he went so far as to undertake, in return for the 
cession of Cyprus, to protect the Turkish dominions against 
all intruders. England thus gained a foothold in the east- Bright, iv, 
em Mediterranean, and became responsible for the Sul- 532. 
tan's misdeeds. She has had reason to blush for her pro- 
t^g6. Recent insurrections in Armenia and in Crete have 
demonstrated anew the difficulty of guaranteeing security 
to the Christian Subjects of the Porte. 

Domestic Legislation. — In relation to internal affairs, 
Beaconsfield' s government was less successful. The Con- 
servative party expressed a benevolent concern for the 
well-being of the laborer, and certain members showed 
a strong disposition to legislate in the direction of techni- 
cal schools, public provision for recreation, artisans' dwell- 

2G 



450 The Growth of Democracy 

ings, an eight-hour day, etc. ; but the government was 
resolved to move slowly, and little was accomplished be- 
Bright, IV, yond an Agricultural Holdings Act (1875), which secured 

514- compensation for improvements to English tenants, and the 
Bright, IV, Laborers' Dwellings Act (1875), empowering town corpora- 

515- tions to purchase land and erect buildings for the accom- 
modation of workmen's families. 

Agitation for Home Rule. — ■ Toward Irish discontent the 
government showed an uncompromising severity. The 
recent reforms, liberal and thoroughgoing though they 
were, had apparently not reached the root of the diffi- 
culty. Agitation increased with every concession. Hardly 
had Gladstone's land bill become law when the Irish 
party, under the lead of Isaac Butt, brought forward the 
demand for home rule. The new leader declared that 
Ireland could no longer consent to receive her laws at the 
hands of a Parliament, the great majority of whose mem- 
Bright, IV, bers were Englishmen and Scotchmen. The Home Rulers 
462. proposed, not the repeal of the Union, nor separation, 

but an independent legislature, retaining relations to the 
British Parliament such as in America the state legislature 
bears to the government of the United States. 

To the impartial outsider there appears to be nothing 
unreasonable in this proposal. It would even seem feasi- 
ble that not only Ireland, but Wales and Scotland, should 
have local parliaments, and that the four originally inde- 
pendent kingdoms should form a federal union after the 
American plan. The several interests are as diverse as 
those of our states, and would be better served by sectional 
legislation. Moreover, the mass of business involved in 
the care of domestic, colonial, and foreign interests aug- 
ments from year to year. It already exceeds the capacity 
of a single legislative assembly. To relieve Parliament 
of the burden of local legislation would greatly facilitate 
the conduct of imperial affairs. Nevertheless, the demand 
for home rule met with small favor among Englishmen. 
Race prejudice lent weight to the argument that an Irish 



The Irish Nationals 



451 



parliament could not be trusted to deal fairly with the 
rights of Protestants or with the landed interests involved. 
The Irish Nationals. — Controlling but a small minority, 
fifty or sixty members, in the House of Commons, the 
Nationalist party remained in sulky isolation until Parnell 




Charles Stewart Parnell 

taught them how to compel attention. Charles Stewart 
Parnell, a man of cool head and steady nerve and an 
expert parliamentarian, succeeded Butt in the leadership 
in 1877. His policy was, in one word, obstruction. The 
House of Commons was to be hindered in the prosecution 
of any and every measure until Irish interests were consid- 
ered. By moving amendments and forcing divisions, by 



452 The Growth of Democracy 

making interminable speeches and dragging in irrelevant 
issues, the ordinary couise of business was effectually 
checked. In despair of getting anything done, the gov- 
ernment resorted to extreme measures. Parnell and other 
unruly members were censured by the House, and rules 
were adopted enabling the Speaker to silence an obstinate 
Bright, IV, minority.^ Nevertheless, the obstructionists succeeded so 
555-55 • f^j. g^g ^Q bring upon the government the charge of timid 

inefficiency. 

Gladstone again. — Parliament was dissolved and new 
elections were held in the spring of 1880. Beaconsfield 
appealed to the country for support on the ground that the 
Conservative party alone could be trusted to maintain Eng- 
land's ascendency in the councils of Europe, and to' defend 
the empire against threatening disintegration. The Lib- 
eral platform, on the other hand, announced an "anti- 
jingo" foreign policy, progressive domestic legislation, 
redress for Irish grievances, but firm and consistent resist- 
Bright. IV, ance to home rule. The election results showed that the 
562-564. ^j^g Yi2ii\ turned. The Liberals secured a clear majority 

of fifty-five,'^ and Gladstone was free to inaugurate a pro- 
gramme of reform. Campaign pledges were redeemed in 
the Irish Land Act (1881), which provided that rents 
should be determined by land courts, and in the Reform 
Act (1884), which extended the suffrage to the agricultural 
laborers. The county franchise was now made identical 
with that of the borough, and adult males paying ^10 
annual room or house rent were intrusted with the ballot. 
The manhood suffrage demanded by the Chartists was thus 
practically secured.^ Another of the "six points," equal 
electoral di'stricts, was attained in the year following. 
Counties and boroughs were divided into election divi- 

1 E.g. the closure, a method of cutting off debate by calling for the 
previous question. 

2 Result of the elections of 1880: Liberals, 355; Conservatives, 238; 
Nationalists, 62. 

3 Four-fifths of the 5,000,000 voters in the United Kingdom are qualified 
as householders. 



The Elections of iSSj 453 

sions containing from fifty thousand to sixty thousand 
voters each. Every such district returns one member to 
the House of Commons. 

The Egyptian Imbroglio. — Gladstone had amply fulfilled Traill, VI, 
his promise of internal reform, but he failed a second '^^'^' 
time to meet the approval of the people in the conduct of 
foreign affairs. Under Beaconsfield's administration, Eng- 
land had got involved in the affairs of Egypt, and the 
queen's ministers became responsible for the khedive's 
government. The perplexing and uncongenial task was Bright, iv, 
assumed by the Liberal Cabinet with ill grace. When 552-554- 
insurrection broke out in the Soudan (1883), Gladstone 
determined to withdraw from the disaffected province, and 
General Gordon was sent to recover the English garrisons. 
Unhappily, he and his little force were surrounded at 
Khartoum and cut to pieces. The massacre touched the Khartoum, 
martial pride of England and roused an angry protest ^2^5- 
against the milk-and-water methods of the government. A Traill, vi, 
vote of censure on the Egyptian policy failed by fourteen 467. 468. 
votes, but in June of 1885 the ministry was defeated on 
an amendment to the budget. 

A Coalition Cabinet. — Lord Salisbury was called to 
form a ministry, but the Conservatives were not strong 
enough to hold their own unaided. Lord Randolph 
Churchill, the leader of the "fourth party," as the progres- 
sive Tories were called, was summoned to the Cabinet. 
The Conservative party was thus committed to various pro- Traill, VI, 
jects for social and industrial improvement little akin to 468,469. 
its former policy. Churchill, furthermore, negotiated an 
alliance with the Nationalists, who were ready to cast in 
their lot with either party that showed any inclination 
to concede home rule. Thus, by currying favor with Tory 
reformers and with Irish home rulers, the government was 
enabled to control a majority in the House of Commons, 
but little important business was put through. Both par- 
ties were making ready for a critical campaign. 

Tlie Elections of 1885. — In the coming elections, the 



454 



The Grozvth of Democracy 



agricultural laborers were to cast their first ballots, and no 
man could surmise how their vote would affect the politi- 
cal future. The Conservatives relied on the influence of 
the clergy and the landed gentry to keep the rustics under 
party control, but the Opposition candidates drew glowing 
pictures of the benefits to be expected from a Liberal 
administration. Land allotments, free schools, local self- 
government, disestablishment of the Scotch and Welsh 




The Marquis of Salisbury 



churches, these and other legislative tidbits, Gladstone's 
more radical followers did not hesitate to offer. The 
unnatural alliance between Conservatives and Home Rulers 
was maintained through the campaign. Parnell instructed 
his party to vote for a Conservative wherever there was no 
Nationalist candidate. The result of the elections abun- 
dantly justified his tactics. The Liberals secured '^'^■}) 
seats, the Conservatives 251, but Ireland outside of Ulster 



Gladstone mid Home Rule 455 

had gone solid for home rule. Parnell could count on 
86 members, and could by uniting forces with the ministry 
outvote the Opposition. He had, therefore, the balance 
of power in his hands, and was in a position to extort 
concessions. Gladstone was directly converted to home 
rule. The result of the elections was no sooner known 
than he issued a manifesto favoring the Nationalist claims. 
The opportunity to introduce a home rule bill was soon 
vouchsafed him. In an amendment to the address, Salis- 
bury's government was defeated by a vote of 329 to 258. 
Nationalists and Radicals voted with the Opposition, while 
the protesting Liberals joined the Conservative ranks. 

Gladstone and Home Rule. — The Liberal Cabinet intro- 
duced two measures calculated to meet the demand of the 
Nationalists for economic and for political reform. The 
Land Purchase Act (1885) appropriated ;^5o,ooo,ooo as a 
loan fund to enable tenants to buy their holdings. The 
provisions of this law were much more favorable to the 
tenant than that of 1870, and the measure went far toward 
the solution of the agrarian question. 

The Home Rule Bill provided for the establishment in Home Rule 
Ireland of a separate executive government solely respon- ^^'^' ^^^^* 
sible to a legislature sitting in Dublin, and empowered to 
deal with Irish affairs so far as they did not affect imperial 
interests. Irish representation in the British Parliament 
was to be discontinued. 

This complete surrender to the demands of the Nation- 
alist faction roused intense indignation throughout Eng- 
land. Not even such popularity as Gladstone's could 
survive the storm of abuse heaped upon the author of 
this "scheme of disintegration." The "grand old man" 
was denounced as a political turncoat, a traitor to his 
party and to his country. His change of front was no 
more reprehensible than Peel's desertion of the Corn Laws 
in 1846, but home rule was an even more contentious 
issue, since it involved race feeling. The breach occa- 
sioned in the Liberal party was deep and irreparable. 



456 



The Growth of Detnocracy 



Liberal 
Unionists. 



Local 

Government 
Act, 1888. 



" Plan of 
campaign. 



The seceders, under the lead of Lord Hartington and Mr. 
Goschen (Whigs), Joseph Chamberlain and John Bright 
(Radicals), called themselves Liberal Unionists and joined 
forces with the Conservatives on the Irish question. 

With ranks so depleted Gladstone could not carry his 
measure, and the Home Rule Bill was lost, 311 votes for, 
to 341 against. The only chance of success was an 
appeal to the country. In the elections of July, 1886, 
the Conservatives had an easy victory in the English 
constituencies, but Ireland, Scotland, and Wales stood 
loyally by Gladstone and home rule.^ The Conservatives 
returned 316 members, the Liberal Unionists 74, the 
Gladstone Liberals 196, the Parnellites 84. The defeat 
was so decisive that Gladstone resigned, and Salisbury was 
summoned to form a ministry before Parliament met. 

Reaction. — In the autumn of 1886 the Conservatives 
entered upon a long lease of power. The six years of 
their administration were marked by no legislation of first 
importance except the Local Government Act (1888). By 
this measure, the anti-home-rule ministry met the de- 
mand for local self-government in England, Wales, and 
Scotland^ by establishing county councils elected by the 
freeholders and responsible each for the affairs of its own 
district. 

The summary rejection of home rule occasioned a 
series of riotous outbreaks in Ireland which the govern- 
ment put down with a strong hand. The Irish leaders 
now organized the National League for the purpose of 
continuing the agitation and of affording relief to tenants 
who refused to pay exorbitant rents. By the "plan of 
campaign " evicted farmers were to be supported out of a 
common fund provided by the League. 

Agrarian Discontent. — The land question was not pecul- 
iar to Ireland. A steady fall in the price of food products, 



1 The proportion voting in favor of Home Rule was : in Ireland. 4^ to i ; 
in Scotland, 3 to i ; in Wales, 5 to i. 

2 The Local Government Act for Scotland was passed in 1889. 



Elections of i8g2 457 

consequent on increased importations of grain, had reduced * 
the profits of agriculture and occasioned general discon- 
tent among rent-paying farmers in Scotland and England. 
Salisbury's government found itself obliged to extend the 
provisions of 1885, by which the Liberals had assisted 
Irish tenants to purchase land, to scale down the customary 
rents paid by the Scotch crofters to one-half, and to afford 
English farm-laborers opportunity to buy lots of land on 
reasonable terms. 

Socialism. — Not only from the tillers of the soil but 
from the working-class element of the cities and towns 
as well, came the demand for redress of grievances. A 
convention of the unemployed was held in Trafalgar Square 
(November 13, 1887) to protest against the industrial order 
that gave them no opportunity to earn a livelihood. A 
great strike of the dock laborers of London and Hull 
brought to public attention the wretched condition of the 
"casual" hands at the shipping centres. The pageant 
of the Queen's Jubilee (1887), the fiftieth anniversary of 
Victoria's coronation, brought into marked relief the 
misery of the "submerged tenth" of the population. 

Evidently a new party was coming to the front to urge a 
new set of claims, social and industrial rather than politi- 
cal. Socialism, silenced with the collapse of the Chartists, 
was gaining many adherents in England among men who 
believed that the let-alone policy sacrificed the well-being The Fabian 
of the laborer to the interests of the employer. They held 
that the State should interfere to secure a fair chance to 
the wage-earner. Propositions for an eight-hour day, for 
free primary education, for putting land at the disposal of 
the people, were brought forward, by the working-class 
leaders, but a Conservative government could hardly be 
expected to give them sympathetic treatment. 

Elections of 1892. — Under the influence of the various 
hostile elements, the ministerial ranks thinned until Salis- 
bury could no longer be sure of his majority and dissolved 
Parliament. The election returns of June, 1892, reversed 



Tracts. 



458 The Growth of Democracy 

* the verdict given in 1886. Gladstonians and Nationalists 
combined could boast a majority of forty-two,^ and the 
Conservative government was readily defeated by an amend- 
Home Rule ment to the address. A revised Home Rule Bill passed the 
bill, 1393. House of Commons by a vote of 347 to 304, spite of dis- 
sensions in the Nationalist ranks, but it met with unex- 
pected defeat in the upper House. Since Lord Grey 
forced the first reform bill through the House of Lords, 
that body had not ventured to reject a measure sent up 
from the House of Commons and indorsed by popular sup- 
port. It was generally supposed that its veto power, like 
that of the crown, had passed out of use. To the scan- 
Home rule dal of all Radicals, this measure, which had been approved 
rejected by |^y ^ majority of 203,014 votes in the recent elections. 
Lords" was rejected by a body of men who could lay no claim to 

voice the will of the nation. Unionists argued in their 
defence that this ancient prerogative might be exercised 
in a case where an extra-constitutional measure was in 
question. The Lords, it was said, would never undertake 
to interfere in the course of ordinary legislation. But the 
upper House, led by Lord Salisbury, plucked up courage to 
defeat other Liberal projects.^ 

Agitation against the House of Lords. — The Radicals had 
for years been protesting that the House of Lords was an 
anachronism — a clog on the wheels of progress; but while 
this degenerate descendant of the Witenagemot was con-- 
tent to remain a mere club of idle old gentlemen who 
amused themselves with ratifying the bills, passed in the 
lower House, its abolition had never been seriously con- 
sidered. Certain measures of reform, it is true, had been 
proposed by Liberal peers, such as the raising of the quo- 
rum^ and the unseating of absentee members. Now ob- 

1 Election returns, 1892: Gladstonians, 271; Nationalists, 81; Labor 
Party, 4; Conservatives, 268 ; Liberal Unionists, 46. 

"^ E.g. the Employers' Liability Bill; e.g. that provision of the Parish 
Councils Bill intrusting the local authorities with power to purchase land 
for sale in laborers' allotments. 

3 Three is the present quorum in a membership of 650. 



Agitation against tJie Honse of Lords 459 

struction of popular projects laid them open to direct 
attack. On March 13, 1894, Mr. Labouchere, the invet- 
erate foe of hereditary privilege, introduced into the House 
of Commons a resolution stating that "■ the power now en- 
joyed by persons who were not elected to Parliament by 
the usual process of the franchise, yet who are able to pre- 




Labouchere 

vent the passage of bills, shall cease." The proposition 
had not been foreseen, and half the members were absent. 
To the surprise arid amusement of the House it was carried 
by a vote of 147 to 145. The leaders of the Liberal party 
had expressed the conviction that the House of Lords must 
be reformed if it was to remain a part of the English 
constitution, but the government could hardly adopt so 
hasty and ill-considered a measure, and it was allowed 
to drop. 



460 The Growth of Democracy 

Retirement of Gladstone. — On March 3, 1894, Gladstone 
resigned the premiership and retired from public life. He 
was eighty-five years of age and might well plead exemp- 
tion from the cares of ofifice, but it is probable that the 
failure of the Irish legislation on which he had set his 
heart determined the final withdrawal. Lord Rosebery, 
who succeeded to the head of the government and to the 
leadership of the Liberal party, was a man of far less mag- 
netism and force. Moreover, as a peer, he was excluded 
from the House of Commons and unable to take part in its 
debates. He was successful, however, in rallying to his 
support the best elements of his party. 

The new Liberal leader proposed a formidable list of 
reforms. The constitution of the House of Lords was to 
be revised, the Welsh Church was to be disestablished, 
factory laws were to be amended in the interest of sanita- 
tion and safety, the Irish land laws were to be improved, 
but there was no mention of home rule. An unhappy 
split in the Nationalist party, the death of Parnell (1891), 
and the retirement of Gladstone had ruined that well-fought 
cause. 

Antagonized by delay in Irish legislation, the National- 
ists went over to the Opposition, lukewarm Liberals and 
malcontent Socialists deserted the government. On a vote 
to reduce the salary of the Secretary of War, Rosebery lost 
his majority and resigned (June, 1895). 

The Salisbury Cabinet. — Salisbury undertook the gov- 
ernment, but his following in the House of Commons was 
inadequate for the prosecution of business. In July, 1895, 
he dissolved Parliament and called for a new election. 
The Liberals conducted a vigorous campaign, a home 
rule plank was added to the Rosebery platform, and 
other bids for popular favor were introduced — all to no 
avail. The party was overwhelmingly defeated at the 
polls.. They secured only 177 seats against 411 won by 
the Conservatives. The Unionists could boast 7 1 members 
in the new House, and were accorded representation in 




Gladstone 




The Salisbury Cabmet 



461 



the Cabinet in the person of Joseph Chamberlain. So 
supported, the government could afford to dispense with 
the Nationalist vote.^ Not only home rule but reform 
of the House of Lords, Church disestablishment, and a 
dozen other Liberal propositions were summarily shelved. 
Secure in its enormous majority and backed by the con- 
servative mood of the nation, the Salisbury government has 
steadily ignored the demands of Radicals, Socialists, and 




Joseph Chamberlain 

Separatists alike. No measure of first importance has been 
passed except the Local Government for Ireland Act. In 
this measure the Conservatives have gone a long way toward 
appeasing Irish discontent by conceding (August, 1898) the 
county council form of self-government already in success- 
ful operation in England, Wales, and Scotland. Whether 

1 There are still eighty-two Nationalists in the House of Commons, but 
they are divided into I'ival factions. 



Irish Local 
Government 
Act, 1898. 



462 The Growth of Democracy 

Balfour has succeeded in "killing home rule by kind- 
ness " remains to be seen. 

Salisbury's Foreign Policy. — Protests against Lord Salis- 
bury's administration have been raised, even in Conserva- 
tive ranks, on the score that his conduct of foreign affairs 
is weak and vacillating, but the situation is full of difficul- 
ties. English interests are world-wide, and lead often to 
complications with other powers. Great Britain main- 
tains the strongest navy afloat and an excellent army, but 
is loath to resort to force in a controversy with her Euro- 
pean rivals. The reason is not far to seek. England's 
foreign policy is determined by her industrial interests. 
Favorable trade relations are more important than the 
vindication of national pique. Hostilities with Russia, 
Germany, France, or the United States would jeopardize 
business prosperity. Moreover, the growth of humanita- 
rian sentiment has bred a horror of blood-shedding — a 
demand that international differences be settled not by the 
sword but by arbitration. 

Queen Victoria. — On June 22, 1897, the queen's dia- 
mond jubilee was celebrated amid universal peace. Rep- 
resentatives from every civilized country came to do honor 
to the sovereign of the British Empire. Her subjects the 
Lord world over rejoiced in the sixty happy years of Victoria's 

Salisbury. reign, "the longest, the most prosperous, the most illus- 
trious," in English history, while to every province of the 
British Empire the queen telegraphed the message, " From 
my heart, I thank my beloved people. May God bless 
them." 

The closing years of the nineteenth century have wit- 
nessed an unlooked-for revival of respect for royalty. 
Devotion such as men gave to Elizabeth, Victoria has 
awakened, not by the autocratic methods of the Tudors, 
but by a remarkable ability to understand her people and 
to cooperate with the best elements of the nation in the 
endeavor to achieve for all British subjects a rational self- 
government. 



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4^4 ^lie Growth of Democracy 

Important Events 

George III, 1760-1820. 

Peace of Amiens, 1802. 
Renewal of war with France, 1803. 
Battle of Trafalgar, 1805. 
The Orders in Council, 1807. 
The Peninsular War, 1 808-1 814. 
The American War, 181 2-1 814. 
The Congress of Vienna, 181 5. 
The Manchester Massacre, 1819. 

George IV, 1 820-1 830. 

Catholic Emancipation, 1829. 

William IV, 1 830-1 837. 

Electoral reform, 1832. 

Abolition of slavery in the colonies, 1833. 

Factory Act for protection of children, 1833. 

The new Poor Law, 1834. 

Municipal reform, 1835. 

Victoria, 1837- 

Repeal of the Corn Laws, 1846. 

The Chartist demonstration, 1848. 

The Crimean War, 1854- 1856. 

Electoral reform, 1867. 

Disestablishment of the Irish Church, 1869., 

Reform of the Irish land laws, 1870. \ 

Elementary education, 1870. 

The Berlin Congress, 1878. 

The Irish Land Act, 1881. 

Electoral reform, 1884 ^i^d 1885. 

Irish Land Purchase Act, 1885. • 

Scotch Crofters Act, 1886. 

Small Agricultural Holdings Act, 1890. 

Failure of the Home Rule Bills, 1886 and 1894. 

The Queen's Jubilees, 1887, 1897. 

Local Government for Ireland Act, 1898. 



Chief Co7ttemporaries 



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CHAPTER XV 

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 

» 

Books for Consultation 

Special References 

Toynbee, Industrial Revolution. 

Ward, Reign of Queen Victoria. 

Taylor^ Modern Factory System. 

Smiles, Life of George Stephenson. 

Muirhead, Life of James Watt. 

Smiles, Life of Bolton and Watt. 

Warwick, Life of Joseph Arch. 

Charles Booth, Life and Labor of the People. 

General Booth, Ln Darkest England. 

Illustrative Readings 
Bronte, Shirley. 
Kingsley, Alton Locke. 
Disraeli, Sybil. 

Besant, Ihe Children of Gibeon ; All Sorts and Conditions of Men. 
Ward, Marcella. 
Carlyle, Sartor Resartus. 
Ruskin, Unto This Last. 

( 

Domestic Manufacture. — 'Vhe first half of the eighteenth 
century was a period of marked prosperity for the working- 
class population of England. The arable land was still for 
the most part tilled by peasants in small holdings. Under the 
influence of the bounty on exports (1689), the price of 
grain was such as to insure a steady profit to the producer. 
The farmer's income was further enhanced by certain by- 
industries. The exclusive policy of the gilds had driven 
cloth manufacturers who were not of the favored companies 
into the rural districts, and the woollen industry was largely 

466 



Introduction of Textile Machinery 467 

transferred from the city to the farm. Carding, spinning, Bums, 

weaving, and dyeing were carried on with good success in Cotters Sat- 
thousands of cottage homes. The homespun broadcloths 

and serges found a ready market in the neighboring towns Defoe, Tour 

and brought in a welcome addition to the yeoman's income. J^^"f * 

Introduction of Textile Machinery. — Until 1700, the im- Britain. 

plements employed in cloth manufacture were nearly as y°'- 1- ^^"^'^ 

■^ I PP Q2— Q4 

simple as those of India. The distaff and spindle had been y^i m^ 
displaced by the spinning-wheel in the fifteenth century, but Letter i, 
the loom contained as yet no essential improvement on that ^^^^^l~l°^' 
used by the Anglo-Saxons. In 1738, one John Kay in- 
vented the fly-shuttle, which enabled one man to tend the Traill, V, 
loom that had heretofore required two. At the same tnne, 
the productive power was doubled. The fly-shuttle came Bright, ill, 
rapidly into general use, and, since the efficiency of the Running- 
weaver was quadrupled, the looms soon outstripped the ham, pp. 219, 
spinning-wheels. It was difficult to provide yarn for all 220. 
the weavers. In 1767 Hargreaves stumbled upon an inven- 
tion that restored proportion. Upsetting a spinning-wheel 
and observing it still moving, he caught the idea of an auto- 
matic arrangement of several spindles set in motion by one 
wheel. The spinning-jenny, as his machine was called, 
carried at first eight threads, then sixteen, twenty, one hun- 
dred and twenty, etc. At about the same time, Richard 
Arkwright secured a patent for a spinning-machine (the 
throstle) constructed on a different principle and spinning a 
harder, firmer thread than the jenny. The best features of 
the two machines were combined in the mule-jenny, pat- 
ented by Samuel Crompton in 1779. The new spinner has Traill, V, 

been improved till it now carries two thousand spindles and 468-474- 

. , 11- 1- Traill, VI, 

requires so httle attention that several machmes can be man- g^_^^^ 

aged by one man. These inventions gave a marvellous im- 
pulse to textile industry. The new machinery was used to 
great advantage in making up not only silk, wool, and flax, 
but the far more difficult fibre cotton. The manufacture of 
cotton had been regarded as impracticable in England, and 
the importation of cotton cloth from the East was prohibited 



468 



The Industrial Revolution 



Watt's steam 
enpfine. 



lest it should come into injurious competition with the 
native woollen goods. But Hargreaves's jenny spun a fine, 
strong thread that could be woven into the best cambric. 
Business enterprise caught at this new opportunity. Mills 
were built and machinery perfected, vast quantities of raw 
material^ were imported, and cotton cloth became one of the 
principal products of Enghsh industry. The zealous manu- 







Arkwright's Spinning Machine of 1769 

From the original specification drawing. — Ure, Cotton Manufacture 

facturers soon cast aside hand power as quite too slow for 
their purpose. Horse power and water power were utilized 
in turn. Finally Watt's steam engine furnished a motor, at 
once the most convenient and the most efficient. Cart- 
wright's ^ power-loom was invented in 1787 and was imme- 
diately adopted in the cotton factories. In the manufac- 

iThe invention of the cotton-gin (1793) greatly reduced the cost of 
preparing the raw material. 

2 These inventors were, with few exceptions, men of humble birth. Har- 
greaves was an ignorant weaver ; Crompton, a spinner and a farmer's son ; 
Arkwright was a poor wig-maker ; Cartwright alone of the great inventors 
was a gentleman born. 



Antagonism between Capital and Labor 469 

ture of silk and wool the hand-looms held their own, however, Cunning- 

for fifty years to come. ^^'^' PP- ^^9- 

The modern factory was the direct result of these inven- 
tions. The several processes, carding, spinning, weaving, Cunning- 

etc, could not long be carried on in scattered cottages, but ^^™' PP* ^^5. 

226. 
must be brought together under one roof in order that the 

machinery might be run by the central motive power, 
whether steam or water. Great mills were built and the 
operatives were obliged to live in the immediate vicinity. 
Men gladly availed themselves of this new opportunity to Traill, v, 
earn a living. Evicted peasants from Ireland, English ^°4- 
farm laborers deprived of work by improved methods of 
tillage, flocked to the factory centres in search of employ- 
ment. People began to migrate from the country to the * 
city, from the agricultural regions of the south to York- 
shire and Lancashire, where water power was abundant and 
stores of coal furnished an inexhaustible fuel. Great manu- Traill, v, 
facturing towns grew up in districts sparsely inhabited S91-598. 
hitherto, and the agricultural England of the Middle Ages 
was transformed into the manufacturing and mercantile 
England of the present day. 

Textile inventions gave Great Britain an immense supe- 
riority over her rivals in the cloth industry, and that advan- 
tage was jealously guarded. Severe penalties were imposed 
on the exportation of machinery. Even skilled operatives 
were forbidden to leave the kingdom, lest they carry abroad 
the knowledge of the new models and betray the secrets of 
the trade. For fifty years (circa 1775 -1825) Enghsh Traill, VI, 
manufacturers enjoyed a practical monopoly of European 589-598- 
and American markets and amassed wealth apace. 

Antagonism between Capital and Labor. — With the intro- 
duction of costly machinery, capital acquired an entirely 
new significance in industry. Labor had heretofore been 
the all-important element in production, but from the time 
that money was required to build and furnish a mill, capital 
has played the principal part. The man who can bring to 
bear upon the new industrial opportunity not only a consid- 



470 



The Industrial Revolution 



erable fortune, but business ability and organizing genius, is 
easily master of the situation.^ He directs the forces at his 
disposal as dexterously as a general manoeuvres his regiments 
and artillery. The laborer, on the other hand, has de- 
scended to the position of a hired dependant. Working on 
materials and with machinery that belong to another, retain- 
ing no share in the product beyond his wages, he has no per- 




■ Sir Richard Arkwright 



sonal concern for his work. The interests of employer and 
employed being diverse, have come frequently into direct 
conflict. Misunderstanding and distrust have grown into 
Cunning- a well-defined hostility. With the factory organization of 
oo™'^^'^^^~ industry began the modern antagonism between capital and 
labor. 

1 Early "captains of industry " were Sir Richard Arkwright, Sir Robert 
Peel, Robert Owen. 



230 



Deterioration of the Laborer 471 

Displacement of Craftsmen. — The condition of the opera- 
tives in the first five decades of the factory system goes far 
to justify this hostiUty. Machinery had rendered muscle 
and skill unnecessary. In the factory operative, who had 
but to overlook a self-impelled mechanism, the essential 
quality was patient, unremitting attention. Endurance was 
more important than strength or ingenuity. The craftsman 
suddenly found his labor a drug in the market, for unskilled 
laborers, women, the very children, could do the work re- 
quired as well as he. Women and children^ were even 
preferred because they were more dexterous and docile. 
The effect was to reverse the relations of the home. Wives 
and children became the bread-winners, while grown men 
vainly sought employment or degenerated into contented 
idleness. 

It is true that new industries were being developed by Cunning- 
the requirements of the factory. Machinery was to be g^™'^^'^^"^ 
constructed and mills built. Coal and iron must be sup- 
plied in increasing quantities. Railroads and steamship 
lines were needed to carry the products of EngUsh looms 
to distant markets. The factory era witnessed a mar- 
vellous expansion in all departments of industry ; but the 
new opportunities fell to the succeeding generation. The 
spinners and weavers thrown out of work by inventions could 
not immediately secure employment as miners and machin- 
ists. The enlarged demand for labor might ultimately ab- 
sorb the whole labor supply, but it could not avert temporary 
distress. 

Deterioration of the Laborer. — Quite as serious as the 
displacement of skilled laborers was the effect of the inferior 
conditions of employment on the operatives. Machinery 
knows no fatigue. In order to get as much as possible out 
of his investment, the master was tempted to work his em- 
ployees as long and hard as was humanly possible. Hours 
varied with the pohcy of the individual employer, but a 

1 Of the 1,084,631 operatives in the textile factories (1890), 410,608 were 
women, 86,499 were children. 



4/2 The IndusUdal Revolution 

fifteen-hour day was not thought excessive, and cases are 
recorded where operatives were regularly kept at work for 
eighteen hours out of the twenty-four. Motives of economy 
dictated that the mills should be cheaply built. Poor light, 
bad ventilation, defective drainage, were the rule. 

Conditions outside the factory were even more deplorable. 
People crowded into the factory towns far in excess of house 
accommodations. Huddled together in attics and cellars ^ 
and hastily built tenements, they were forced to live under 
conditions that bred disease. The physique of the factory 
operative rapidly degenerated, while the death rate, markedly 
higher in manufacturing towns than elsewhere, told a sad tale 
of misery. 

In the first stages of this transformation, the suffering of 
the laboring classes was hardly noted. All energies were 
engaged in the accumulation of wealth, all attention was fixed 
upon the marvellous inventions by which production was 
multiplied a hundred-fold. Enormous fortunes were amassed 
in manufactures and trade, and the national wealth aug- 
mented by leaps and bounds.^ The increase of population, 
then regarded as a sure index of prosperity, was not less 
marked. The population of Great Britain has been nearly 
quadrupled and her wealth multiplied by ten- in the past 
one hundred years. 
Traill, V, Revolt of Labor. — The laborers were, however, not con- 

601-604. soled by the ultimate advantages of the use of machinery. 

1 In Manchester, one-tenth of the population lived in cellars. 



2 Wealth of Great Britain 


in Million Pounds. 


1774 


;^I.IOO 


1800 


1,740 


1812 


2,190 


1822 


2,600 


1833 


3>7So 


1840 


4,100 


1865 


6,113 


187s 


8.584 


1885 


10,037 





Population. 


1780 


8,080,000 


1801 


15,717,287 


1811 


17,926,580 


1821 


20,893,684 


1831 


26,028,584 


1841 


26,709,456 


1851 


27-368,736 


1861 


28,974,362 


1871 


31,513,442 


1881 


35,241,482 


1891 


37.796,390 



Revolt of Labor 



473 



The 
Luddites. 



They saw plainly enough that the immediate results were 
disastrous, and bHndly thought to set the matter right by 
destroying their dangerous rival. Kay's fly-shuttle was so 
resented that the inventor was forced to flee the kingdom. 
Hargreaves's house was broken open and his spinning-jenny 
smashed in pieces. Arkwright's mill was wrecked by an 
infuriated mob, and Peel's factory at Altham suffered a simi- 
lar fate. Serious riots broke out among the silk-weavers at 
Spitalfields and Blackburn. In 1811, a formidable insurrec- 
tion was set on foot by the hosiers of Nottingham. Form- 
ing themselves into secret associations, the mutinous laborers Bright, ill, 
attacked the houses of the manufacturers and destroyed the ^332, 1333. 
dreaded knitting-frames. Such outbreaks of popular feeling 
were summarily suppressed as offences against public tran- 
quillity. 

The strike was a more rational method of resistance. Cunning- 

This, however, involved concerted action on the part of the ^^^^' P^' ^°^' 

^ 106, 214. 

laborers, and was hardly less incriminating than open vio- 
lence. The manufacturers readily secured assistance from 
Parliament. The Coalition Act of 1800 reasserted the old- 
time prohibition against " covin and conspiracy." Any 
persons combining to advance the rate of wages, reduce the 
hours of labor, or in any manner coerce the masters of a 
trade, were condemned to jail and hard labor. Repressive 
legislation was, however, found to be of no avail. Secret 
associations existed wherever laborers were congregated in 
the factory towns, and their methods were the more des- 
perate because illegal. The policy of repression was, how- 
ever, maintained for twenty-five years. In 1824, Parliament 
appointed a commission to inquire into the effect of the 
Coalition Act. It was reported that " those laws had not 
only not been efficient to prevent combinations either of 
masters or workmen, but, on the contrary, had, in the opin- 
ion of many of both parties, a tendency to produce mutual 
irritation and distrust, and to give a violent character to the 
combinations, and to render them highly dangerous to the 
peace of the community." The statute was therefore re- 



474 



The Industrial Revolution 



Bright, IV, 

38. 39. 400- 
406, 503-506, 

515, 516, 573, 

574. 



Peel, Owen, 
Shaftesbury. 



Factory 
ComriMSsion, 

1833- 



pealed. A sudden and marked increase in the number of 
strikes induced this employers' Parliament to impose certain 
-restraints on trade societies in the following year, but abso- 
lute prohibition was never again attempted. In the Trades 
Union Acts of 1871 and 1876, such associations were given 
a legal status. For the past fifty years the unions have had 
a marked influence. They have accompHshed a con- 
siderable advance of wages/ and they have worked to 
bring about a legal limitation on the hours of labor, and a 
prohibition of such conditions in mine and workshop as 
militate against the well-being of the laborer. 

Factory Legislation. — The trades unions have not been 
alone in their endeavor to secure for the operatives higher 
wages, shorter hours, and better conditions of labor. 
Throughout the nineteenth century the cause of the work- 
ing classes has been championed by philanthropists and 
statesmen, who have thought it wiser to protect the laborer 
against degrading conditions than to build hospitals and 
almshouses for the victims of the new order. First to pro- 
test against the injurious effects of factory labor was Sir 
Robert Peel, who called attention to the misery of the 
so-called apprentices — the children sent from the parish 
poor houses to be bound out to the manufacturers. The 
Act of 1802 applied only to apprenticed children working 
in cotton and woollen mills. It required that they should 
have suitable lodging, clothing, and instruction ; their work- 
ing day was limited to twelve hours, between six in the 
morning and nine at night ; and the factory where they 
were employed was to be " lime-washed twice a year, and 
duly ventilated." 

The law was evaded by unscrupulous manufacturers, who 
had no difficulty in hiring free children from their needy 
parents and guardians. Owen and Peel pressed for further 
legislation that should protect these no less unfortunate 
victims of machinery. A series of abortive measures pre- 
pared the way for the searching investigation conducted 

1 Giffen estimates the average rise of wages from 1835 to 1885 at 70%, 



Factory Legislation 475 

by the Factory Commission of 1833. The report revealed Mrs. Brown- 
a state of things that roused the country to horrified protest. '^^J "'cmdfen. 
Children of tender years were employed for long hours 
and upon tasks beyond their strength. Robbed of sleep 
and healthful recreation, these toiling Htde ones fell an easy 
prey to diseases and deformities incident to the nature of 
their work. Deprived of opportunity for education, sub- 
jected to demoralizing influences, they rapidly degenerated 
into weakness, brutality, vice. England stood aghast at the 
evident degradation of her working classes. A vigorous 
effort was made in the interests of industrial freedom to 
prevent remedial legislation ; but the economists were over- 
borne by the weight of evidence against the " let alone " 
pohcy, and the eager advocates of national aggrandizement 
were silenced. The Act of 1833 forbade the employment 
in factories of children under nine years. Children between 
nine and thirteen years of age might be employed but eight 
hours a day, while no person under twenty-one years, and no 
woman, might be employed at night. Subsequent legislation Cunning- 
provided schoohng for factory children on the "half-time" ^X'^^"'°^ 
system.^ 

In 1847, after a battle royal between the champions 
of protection and the advocates of free contract, the 
Ten Hours Act was passed, reducing to ten the number of Ten Hours 
hours in the working day for women and children. This ^*' ^ ^'^' 
practically meant a ten-hour day for all factory employees, 
since the men could not profitably be kept at work after Bright, IV, 
their nimble assistants were withdrawn. The factory legis- ^7o, 171- 
lation of the last few years has extended the blessings of Factory and 
protection to every factory and workshop where women con^soUdi- 
and children are employed. Safe and wholesome condi- tion Act, 
tions of work are secured by minute requirements as to 1878. 
ventilation and drainage, and the guarding of machinery. 
A recent law (1897) renders the employer liable to damage 
in case of accident for which he can reasonably be held 
responsible. City governments have undertaken the con- 

1 Children required to be in school on alternate days or half-days. 



4;6 



The Industrial Revolution 



Traill, V, 
322-326. 



Traill, VI, 
392-404. 



demnation of unsanitary dwellings, and the building of model 
tenements in the working-class quarters. Thus England has 
led the way, not only in the invention of machinery and in 
the production of goods for the world's markets, but in legis- 
lation designed to secure to the laborer fair living and 
working conditions. 

Transportation. — The marvellous industrial development 
of Great Britain has been greatly furthered by improvement 
in the means of transportation. Much had been done for 
trade in the eighteenth century by the bettering of post- 
roads and the building of canals,^ but the introduction ol 
steam as a motor was reserved to the present era. One 
William Symington, a Scotch engineer, adapted Watt's in- 
vention to the turning of paddle-wheels, and patented a 
steamboat in 1801. His model, the Charlotte Dundas, 
made a trial trip on the Forth and Clyde Canal, but was 
abandoned as impractical. The Comet, the first passenger 
steamer built in Europe, was launched on the Clyde in 
1812, five years after Fulton's Cleimont made her way up 
the Hudson. The first sea-going steamer sailed from Glas- 
gow to Belfast in 18 18. The Great Western crossed the 
Atlantic in 1838, and the Cunard line was established in 
1840. Steamships cost more than sailing-vessels, but they 
have four times the carrying capacity and are so much 
swifter and surer that they have well-nigh monopolized the 
great trade routes. 

The enterprise of Enghsh shipbuilders and merchants 
has secured the lion's share of the world's commerce. In 

1 The artificial waterways of Britain exceed forty-seven hundred miles in 
length, e.g. : — 

The B7-idgewater canal (1759) cuts across Devon and saves a voyage of 
three hundred miles round Land's End. 

The Grand Trunk canal connects the Trent and Mersey. 

The Grand Junction runs from London through Oxford to the chief 
midland towns. 

The Manchester canal, an extension of the Mersey (thirty-five miles) 
connects Liverpool with Manchester. 

The Berkeley canal renders the Severn navigable as far as Gloucester. 

The Caledonian (1823) connects Firth of Lorn with Moray Firth (sixty 
miles) and saves four hundred miles of coast voyage. 



Transporta Hon 



A77 



1892 more than half (56%) the carrying trade of civilized 
nations was in British vessels. 

The steam-engine v^^as not successfully used in land trans- Traill, VI, 
portation until 1825, when Stephenson's first locomotive, ^99-2io. 
the Rocket, made her trial trip on the Stockton and Dar- 
lington Railway. The transcendent importance of this in- 




The Rocket 

From Smiles, Life of George Stephenson 

vention was not recognized until ten years later, and then a 

mania for railroad building set in. Every manufacturing Bright, ly 

centre was soon connected with its nearest port, while the ^^^' ^^^' 

Scotch Highlands and the Welsh mountains were brought 

within reach of the pleasure-seeking world. Great Britain 

now boasts a higher railway mileage,^ in proportion to area, 

than any country on the globe. 

1 There were 21,277 miles of railway in the British Isles in 1896. Two- 
thirds of this was in England. 



478 



The Industrial Revolution 



The advantages of the improved means of locomotion were 
soon apparent in the development of trade. Railway freight- 
age has increased fifty-fold in the past forty years. The self- 
supporting village community is not to be found innineteenth- 




George Stephenson 



century England. All producers send their goods to the 
general markets, from which they are supplied in turn with 
the commodities that they cannot produce so cheaply. The 
amount of travel has increased tenfold.^ The chance to see 

1 The average Englishman travelled thirteen miles in 1836, one hundred 
and fifty miles in 1886. 



Mining 479 

the world, limited to the wealthy few in the days of the stage- 
coach, is now within the reach of day laborers. By stage, a 
man travelled nine miles an hour at a cost of ten cents a 
mile. By train, he accomplishes forty miles an hour at one- 
fifth the cost. 

Mining. — Railways and steamships have meant an enor- 
mous increase in the demand for iron and coal. From the 
sixteenth century iron had been smelted in Sussex and the 
Forest of Dean, but the industry languished for lack of fuel.^ Traill, V, 
The inventive genius of England was brought to bear upon 3ii-3i7- 
this problem. Abraham Darby showed the smelters how 
to fire their furnaces with pit-coal. Watt's steam engine 
was utilized to drive the machinery, and a hundred other Traill, V, 
inventions brought the modern rolling-mill to perfection. 459-4 • 
The subterranean riches of the midland counties were 
then speedily opened up. Wealth and population have 
gravitated to this new industrial opportunity, transforming 
South Wales and the " black country " into the richest and 
the ugliest districts in the United Kingdom. Great Britain 
now produces one-third the world's supply of coal and more 
than one-fourth its iron.^ 

This great success has not been achieved without some 
loss. The conditions of mining, in the coal mines espe- 
cially, must always be difficult and dangerous. During the Traill, vi, 
period when more attention was given to profits than to 3 7-377- 
human welfare, women and children were employed in the 
mines at tasks ruinous to health and morals. Parliamentary 
investigation brought facts to light that induced legislation 
prohibiting the employment of women and children below 
the surface. Later legislation has required safety lamps, ven- 
tilating apparatus, and all reasonable precaution against dan- 
ger, but human foresight cannot prevent frightful accidents. 

The Miners' Federation has fought successfully for a 

1- Production fell to 17,350 tons in 1740. 

2 Production of coal in 1896: Great Britain, 195,361,000 tons; United 
States, 186,186,611 tons; all countries, 580,000,000 tons. Production of 
pig-iron, 1897: Great Britain, 8,930,086 tons; United States, 9,807,123 tons; 
all countries, 33,520,005 tons, 



48o 



The Industrial Revolution 



Corn laws. 

Traill, V, 
301-305. 



Enclosures. 

Traill, V, 
452-459- 



shorter working day and a " living wage." The great strike 
of 1893 was occasioned by a proposed reduction of 25% in 
the rate determined by the settlement of five years previous. 
Some three hundred thousand coal miners ^ struck work in 
July, 1893, and held to their purpose until the mine-owners 
were ready to make concessions. The dispute was finally 
arbitrated under government auspices/ and the men secured 
a restoration of the established rate. 

Agricultural Revolution. — The development of manu- 
factures, mining, and commerce has been accompanied by 
a decline in agriculture. During the eighteenth century 
and the first half of the nineteenth, legislation had tended 
to foster the interests of the great landowners who con- 
trolled both Houses of Parhament, at the expense of the 
small proprietors and the community at large. The corn 
laws, vigorously maintained from 1689 to 1846, imposed 
heavy duties on imported grains, and gave the English pro- 
ducers practical monopoly of the home market. P^X the same 
time, a series of enclosure acts facilitated the transfer of the 
coveted privilege of land-ownership from the small holders to 
a few wealthy men. A movement toward enclosure, such as 
had transformed the face of Tudor England, characterized 
the Georgian period. This second great onslaught on 
peasant holdings was due, not to the demand for pasture 
land, but to improved methods of tillage. Scientific agricul- 
ture, eloquently advocated by such men as Arthur Young, 
had become the fashion among English landlords. Assidu- 
ous attention was given to stock-raising. Clover and rich 
grasses were introduced and better breeds of cattle. To 
the arable land, marl and other manures were applied, 
while methods of cultivation were carefully studied. The 
open field system, with its numerous proprietors and cum- 
bersome regulations, was generally abandoned. The land 
was redistributed in such fashion that each man who could 



1 The district between the Tees and the Trent was involved. 

2 Lord Rosebery met the representatives of the two sides to the contro- 
versy and negotiated a settlement. 






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Agrictdtural Revolution 4^1 

justify his title received his share in a single plot which 
could be cultivated to much better advantage than the 
scattered holdings of the old-time tenure. The common 
land was usually appropriated by the landlord. These and 
other improvements so increased the productive power of 
the soil that wheat crops amounted to twenty and thirty 
bushels to the acre, four times the thirteenth-century 
average. The weight of sheep and cattle was raised in the 
same proportion. 

The progress of enclosure was accelerated by a new 
demand for land. Merchants, grown suddenly rich in the 
East India trade, and clothiers, who had amassed fortunes The nabobs, 
in manufacture, were eager to buy country estates and to 
secure a place among the landed gentry. Under the spur 
of rising prices the zeal for enclosing overcame all obstacles. 
Between 1710 and 1760, 334,974 acres were enclosed, while 
the land so redistributed from 1760 to 1830 amounted Traill, VI, 
to nearly seven million acres.^ The enclosure acts were 75-83- 
framed by a Parliament made up of landowners who gave 
but slight consideration to the rights of tenants and free- 
holders. Unable to defend themselves against their power- 
ful neighbors, small proprietors yielded, not without protest, 
to unjust encroachment, or finding that they could not com- 
pete in the same market with the new cultivators, sold their 
little holdings and dropped to the rank of the farm laborer. 
Wheat was produced at less cost on the large estates, but 
England lost much in the process. Even Arthur Young ^isappear^- 
laments the disappearance of the freeholders. The stal- yeoman, 
wart yeomen who had been the main support of Cromwell 
and the Puritan Revolution were hardly to be found in 
England at the close of the eighteenth century. They had 
been driven from the land to make room for improved 
agriculture under the tenant-farmer. 

1 In the second period, four thousand enclosure acts were passed affect- 
ing four thousand out of the ten thousand parishes in England. The trans- 
formation was most complete in the southern and eastern counties. In 
Cumberland and the West Riding of Yorkshire, in Scotland, Wales, and 
Ireland, the small holdings still persist. 
2 I 



482 



The Industrial Revolution 



Bright, III, 
1014, 1 150. 

Cunning- 
ham, pp. 185- 
193- 

Cunning- 
ham, pp. 195- 
197. 

Traill, VI, 
211-216. 
Traill, VI, 
404-420. 

Traill, VI, 
599-606. 



Cunning- 
ham, pp. 231- 
233- 



Here, too, invention played its part in furthering an in- 
dustrial transformation. The introduction of agricultural 
machinery gave the wealthy landowner an advantage in 
production comparable to that of the capitalist manufac- 
turer. Science, machinery, and the tendency to great estates 
combined to bring about the agricultural revolution. 

Decline of Agriculture. — The repeal of the Corn Law 
(1846) was carried through against the protest of the landed 
aristocracy, who dreaded the reduction in rents that must 
follow the fall in the price of grain. The disaster did not 
arrive so soon as anticipated. After the tariff was removed 
the EngHsh farmer had still the advantage of being near his 
customer, while his competitors in Russia, America, and Aus- 
tralia must send their products over-sea. With 1874, how- 
ever, a series of bad seasons set in, when corn rotted in the 
furrow and cattle perished of disease. At the same time, 
improved facilities for ocean carriage brought grain and 
refrigerated beef to the Enghsh markets at a fraction of 
former rates. This meant cheap and abundant food, but it 
rendered agriculture unprofitable on all but the richest lands. 
In the poorer districts, proprietors were obliged to reduce 
their rents by half. Even so, many farmers abandoned the 
attempt to make ends meet, fields were converted into 
pasture,^ and laborers were thrown out of employment,^ 
It is not strange that to-day the agricultural interest clamors 
for the revival of the corn laws. 

The Farm Laborers. — Work in the fields does not stand 
in such need of protective legislation as factory labor. The 
hours are long during the summer season, and the task 
often severe, but there is plenty of fresh air and wholesome 
exercise. Women and children at work in the fields suffer 
under no such physical disadvantages as the factory opera- 
tive, but the engrossing nature of the employment leaves 



1 Three million acres were converted to pasture in the two decades from 
1867 to 1887. 

2 The number of farm laborers in England and Wales : 1871,996,642; 
1881,890,174; 1891,798,912. 



TJie Agricultural Union 483 

little time for schooling or for home life. Recent inquiries ^ 
have made evident that the ignorance and brutality of the 
rural population are in large part due to the conditions of 
agricultural labor. 

Parliament has done something toward meeting this de- 
mand. In 1867, a law was passed regulating the employ- 
ment of women and children in gangs. Every gang-master 
must be licensed, no child under eight years may be hired, 
women are not allowed to go to the field in the same gangs 
with men, and the distance the laborers may be obliged 
to walk is limited. The Agricultural Children's Act, 1873, 
was repealed almost as soon as passed, but the requirement 
of school attendance insures a primary education to the 
children, and various efforts in the direction of sanitary 
dwellings have rendered living conditions more tolerable. 

The Agricultural Union. — The greatest obstacle to the 
advancement of the agricultural labor, viz. inadequate earn- 
ings, may not be so easily overcome. The wages paid for 
field work are lower than in any other employment. Able- 
bodied men are customarily paid seven, nine, and eleven 
shillings a week, a sum that leaves little opportunity for 
saving after living expenses are paid. Among men so 
scattered and so ignorant, cooperative effort is difficult, but 
a trade union of agricultural laborers has been attempted. 
In 1872, Joseph Arch, a hedger of Warwickshire, set on Joseph Arch, 
foot a movement to demand shorter hours and better pay. 
The farm laborers of Suffolk struck for higher wages in Bright, iv, 
the summer of that year, and though they did not obtain ^°'^' 
all they asked, they succeeded in impressing the farmers 
with the wisdom of avoiding another such demonstration 
by timely concessions. The affair attracted universal atten- 
tion. Since the days of Wat Tyler, the tillers of the soil 
had made no organized effort to improve their lot. The 
movement seemed to threaten the foundations of the 
social order and was strenuously opposed by the landed 
interest. 

1 E.g. report of Parliamentary Commission, 1873. 



484 



The IiidiLstrial Revolution 



Small Hold- 
ings Act, 
1890. 



The Agricultural Union found champions, however, among 
the Liberal leaders. The extension of the ;£io house- 
holder suffrage to the rural districts (1884) gave the agricul- 
tural laborer his first opportunity to influence legislation. 
The additional vote (870,000) was twice that of the landlords 
and farmers combined. Joseph Arch was sent to the House 
of Commons, and a strong pressure was brought to bear 
upon that body by the newly enfranchised. The Small 
Agricultural Holdings Act (1890) enabled laborers to pur- 
chase plots of land large enough for market gardening or 
small farming. The county councils were empowered to 
buy estates and divide them into small tracts for sale or 
rent, while the government undertook to loan capital at low 
rates of interest to would-be purchasers. The arrangement 
has not produced any considerable effect.^ Landowners 
were unwilling to sell, and laborers hesitated to burden 
themselves with a debt in this era of low prices. 

Pauperism. — Any review of the social and industrial con- 
ditions of modern England would be incomplete without 
some notice of the growth of pauperism and the efforts made 
to check this menace to the nation's health. The industrial 
upheaval of the past hundred years has been attended by 
results both good and bad. An immense gain in material 
wealth has been achieved at the expense of the well-being 
of the laborers immediately concerned. Improved farming, 
no less than machinery, has deprived thousands of the means 
of self-support and driven them to seek aid at the hands of 
parish officers or private almsgivers.^ From 1750 to 1820, 
the years in which the factory system was becoming estab- 

1 In 1895 allotments had been provided in only eight counties of Eng- 
land, Scotland, and Wales, and but 483 acres sold. In forty-one of the 
eighty-four remaining counties applications had been made. 

2 Poor-rate per head of population : — 



1750 . 


2.S. 2d. 


1810 


1760 


. 3^- 


1818 


1770 . 


3^. 6d. 


1820 


1780 . 


. 4^. 5^. 


1830 


1790 . 


. 5^. 11^. 


* 


1800 


. 8j. sd. 


1890 



10s. 


3a. 


ly. 


4^. 


123. 


2d. 


gs. 


gd. 


* 


* 


5'- 


gd. 



Darkest 
England. 



PaiLperism 485 

lished and enclosures were being made, the growth of 
pauperism was appaUing. The poor-rate augmented till it 
reached the alarming proportions of one-fourth the national 
revenue, and the burden on the taxpayer was intolerable. 

The phenomenal increase in the number of paupers was 
due in part to unwise methods of relief, in part to the 
disturbing effects of the Napoleonic wars, in part to the Bright, ill, 
mischievous corn laws that not infrequently raised the price ^^^^' ^^^9- 
of bread to famine rates ; but the main cause was the indus- 
trial change that rendered opportunity for employment un- 
certain and left laborers dependent on precarious wages. 
No legislation can reach the fundamental difficulty. Par- 
liament has undertaken little more than the regulation of 
relief. The burden of the poor-rate is now but one-third of 
what it was in 1834, and the number of paupers has been Booth, in 
greatly reduced, but there is still the problem of the " sub- 
merged tenth." 

The most hopeful feature of the times is the awakening 
of the social conscience. People's Palaces, improved tene- 
ments, university extension, these and many more generous 
efforts to better the conditions of life and labor for the 
working classes bear witness to the new spirit of brother- 
hood that controls the thought of to-day. The new ideal 
astir in England has found noble expression in the writings 
of Kingsley, Carlyle, Ruskin, and William Morris. 



Principal Inventions 

Fly-shuttle, Kay, 1738. 
Spinning-jenny, Hargreaves, 1767. 
Throstle, Arkwright, 1769. 
Spinning-mule, Crompton, 1779. 
Steam-engine, Watt, 1775. 
Power-loom, Cartwright, 1785. 
Cotton-gin, Whitney, 1793. 
Steamboat, Symington, 1802. 
Locomotive engine, Stephenson, 1825. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE BRITISH EMPIRE 
Books for Consultation 

Special Authorities 

Cotton and Paine, Colonies and Dependencies. 

Roberts, History of Canada. 

Lyall, Rise of British Dominion in India. 

Caldecott, English Colonization and Empire. 

Dilke, Problems of Greater BiHtaiiz. 

De Walker, Australasia. 

Stanley, etc., Africa, its Partition and its Future' 

Parkin, Imperial Federation. 

Russell, Dampier. 

Besant, Captain Cook. 

Imaginative Literature 

Thackeray, The Virginians. 
Catherwood, Lady of Fort St. John. 
Gilbert Parker, Seats of the Mighty. 
A. Conan Doyle, The Refugees. r 

Kipling, Tales from the Hills. \ 

Steel, On the Face of the Waters. 

British America. — The region that remained loyal to the 
mother-country after the secession of the thirteen colonies 
lay, for the most part, north of the St. Lawrence River, and 
in a sub-arctic climate. Canada has developed slowly as 
compared with the United States, both industrially and 
politically. The eighteenth-century population was largely 
French and Indian. Even to-day, after one hundred and 
thirty years of English rule, the Saxon element is in the 

486 



BritisJi America 487 

minority in the oldest province of Quebec. From the out- 
set, however, the bulk of intelligence and enterprise was 
with the English settlers. Under their influence, a full 
measure of self-government has been secured. Taught by 
her unhappy experience with the seaboard colonies, Eng- 
land has conceded representative institutions to Canada 
without serious protest. A rising of the P'rench population, 
in 1837, led to the reorganization of the government. Que- Payne, 
bee and Ontario were then united for purposes of general ^^^'P^'^^ 
legislation. In 1867, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick ch. xi. ' 
came into the federation, Manitoba in 1870, British Colum- Bright, iv, 
bia in 1871, and Prince Edward Island in 1873. New- ^^3-434. 
foundland alone remains outside. By the British North British North 
American Act (1867), a constitution similar in principle to ^"t^^sT" 
that of Great Britain was conceded. The House of Com- 
mons of the Canadian Parliament is made up of represen- 
tatives elected by the property-owning citizens ; in the 
Senate, or upper house, sit life members, appointed by 
the crown. The governor-general remains the representa- 
tive of the queen, but the real responsibility is vested in the 
ministry, and the composition of the Cabinet depends, in 
Canada as in England, on the party having a majority in 
the lower house. Each of the seven provinces in the 
Dominion has its own legislature and executive, administer- 
ing the local government. 

The latent resources of British America are being rapidly 
opened up under a wise system of colonization.^ The 
Canadian Pacific Railway (completed in 1885) binds the Canadian 
old Atlantic colonies to the mining settlements of British ^^^^^^ ^^^' 
Columbia, and carries immigrants to the wheat and ranch 
lands of the Northwest Territory. Under the liberal admin- 
istration of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the commercial interests of 
the country are being developed. Improvements in the 
transatlantic steamship service receive official encourage- 
ment, special advantages are accorded to trade with the 

1 Population of Canada (1891) : English, 3,428,265; French, 1,404,974; 
Indian, 102,275, 



488 The British Empire 

mother-country, while efforts are being made to secure a 
reciprocity treaty with the United States. 

India. — Parhament began to concern itself with Indian 

affairs at the close of the eighteenth century. The greed of 

the Company officials was checked and much was done for 

the well-being of the country. Still the Enghsh rule was both 

alien and corrupt, and was bitterly resented by upper-class 

The Sepoy Hindoos. A widespread mutiny among the native troops 

Rebellion, fln^jjy convinced the home government that radical reform 

was imperative. In 1858, the East India Company's charter 

was withdrawn, and the country so long under its control 

Bright, IV, became a dependency of the crown. The dominion thus 

292-329. acquired is ten times the area of the United Kingdom, 

and more than half as large as the United States. Its 

population^ amounts to one-seventh that of the whole 

globe. One hundred different languages are spoken within 

Suez Canal, its confines. Since the opening of the Suez Canal (1869) 

1869. England has a direct sea-route to India, and trade interests 

have been greatly developed. 

Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India in 1877. 
The oriental empire is ruled as a crown colony. This 
means that the administration, civil and military, is ap- 
pointed by and responsible to the English government, and 
that Indian affairs are determined in all important details 
by the queen's ministry. A limited degree of representa- 
tion has been recently introduced in the city councils, but 
the essentials of self-government are quite b^ond the com- 
prehension of the native population. It is hot likely that 
they will soon grow up to it. The only feasible administra- 
tion is as un-English as may be, a bureaucratic civil service, 
maintaining its authority by mihtary force. 

Her East Indian possessions have thus far been of but 
dubious advantage to England. The government is a heavy 
responsibility, far more perplexing than that of Ireland. 
Vexed questions of race and religion baffle the administra- 
tion at every turn and frustrate the efforts of the best-inten- 

1 221,172,952 in 1891. 




BORMAY & CO.,ENGB'S,N,Y, 



Atistralia 489 

tioned ofificials. India can never be Anglicized, because 
the climate is an impossible one for the English race. Ac- 
cording to the last census there were but 100,551 British-' 
born living in India. These are army officers and civil 
servants with their families. It is true that the commercial 
interests are very great and tend constantly to grow more 
profitable,^ but England pays dear for her practical monop- 
oly of the Indian trade. Russia is her jealous neighbor, and 
conflict of interests on the Bosphorus and in the Orient have 
more than once involved England in war.^ 

Australia. — In marked contrast to East Indian conditions 
stand the English colonies in Australasia. Here settlers have 
had to do not with an ancient civilization, but with barbar- 
ous peoples who readily give way before the European ad- 
vance. The south Pacific had been visited by Portuguese 
and Dutch explorers in the sixteenth century, but it remained"'' 
for Captain Cook (i 768), a famous English navigator, to dis- Captain 
cover the new continent of Austraha. Colonization followed *^°°^- 
close upon discovery. The new acquisition was first utilized Payne, 
as a dumping ground for convicted criminals, but transporta- ''''• ^^^• 
tion to Austraha was soon discontinued and the country Bright, iv, 
opened to free colonists. The rich grazing lands attracted im- '^^' ^^^' 
migrants, gold fields were discovered in 185 1, and the first 
settlements, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, devel- 
oped rapidly in wealth and population. Another of Captain 
Cook's discoveries, New Zealand, has been no less prosper- 
ous. By immigration and natural increase the English 
population has multiplied until it far outnumbers the native.^ 
The result is a characteristically English civilization. 

New South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland, Victoria, 
South Austraha, and Tasmania have attained responsible 

1 In 1897, the exports from India to England amounted to ^31,646,304, 
the imports from England amounted to £$o,\\'],-^ox. 

2 E.g. the Afghan wars (1839-1842, 1878-1880). 

3 Another Englishman, Dampier, had explored the coast of Australia in 
1699, but his discovery came to nothing. 

4 Of a population of four million, some two hundred thousand are abo- 
rigines. 



490 The British Empire 

government, while the newest of all, West Australia, is in- 
trusted with a representative legislature. Untrammelled by 
tradition and vested interests, these states have wrought out 
political and industrial conditions far more democratic than 
those that obtain in the mother- country. Some of the re- 
cent business enterprises of the several governments are 
Federation distinctly socialistic in character. A project for a federa- 
adopted, ^Jqj^ q^ ^^ seven Australian colonies comparable to that 

t8oo, ^ 

of Canada has been recently (1898) put to vote. It failed 
of support in New South Wales, but an Australian federa- 
tion cannot long be deferred. 

Africa. — In the scramble for possession of the Dark 
Continent, Great Britain has led the way. Reckoned in 
square miles, her territories are not so great as those of 
France,^ but the English have secured the richest portions 
of Africa and those best adapted to colonization from 
Europe. 

At the Congress of Vienna (1815) England secured 
her title to Holland's colony at the Cape of Good 
Hope. The acquisition was regarded as a trading post 
merely, but the rich farmlands and wholesome climate at- 
tracted immigration. The English settlers pushed their 
way northward, disputing possession, first with the native 
Kaffirs and then with the Dutch Boers, until the British claim 
far exceeded the original grant. Natal was annexed in 
Payne, 1 843, and Bechuanaland in 1867. The rich diamond mines 

ch. XIII. north of Orange River were thus brought within reach of 
business enterprise. Somewhat later, gold was discovered 
Bright, IV, in the Transvaal, and English prospectors crowded into the 
545-552. lands hitherto monopolized by the Dutch. The Boers have 
stubbornly stood their ground. Not even Jameson's raid 
(1896) was sufficient to shake their control. The English 
government has been obliged to withdraw its pretensions to 
a protectorate and to treat with President Kruger as repre- 
senting an independent power. 

iThe French possessions are estimated at 3,000,000 square miles, those 
of England at 2,300,000 square miles. 



Africa 491 

In central Africa, no such obstacle exists. Year by year, Traill, vi, 
the efforts of English missionaries and the achievements of 668-674. 
Enghsh explorers have brought new regions within the 
queen's dominion. In British South Africa, British Central 
Africa, and British East Africa, the Union Jack is respected 
by the inhabitants, and the English trader has obtained a 
foothold. The British policy of expansion in the interest 
of trade has been vigorously maintained by Sir Cecil Rhodes. 
Resistance on the part of the native races is crushed with 
relentless severity. Similar conquests have carried the Eng- 
lish flag north of the equator, and have brought British East 
Africa within easy distance of British outposts in the Sou- 
dan. 

Since 1882, the English government has assumed respon- 
sibihty for the affairs of Egypt and has thus become pledged 
to the suppression of the Mahdist revolt in the Soudan. The 
recent victories of Sir Herbert Kitchener at Atbara (April, 
1898) ^nd at Omdurman^ (May, 1898), together with the 
arrangement with France as to Fashoda (March 22, 1899) 
arrived at by Lord Salisbury, have given Great Britain con- 
trol of the valley of the Nile even to the source of that river 
in Lake Victoria. Once in possession of Khartoum, Kit- 
chener telegraphed over the wire that connects Egypt with 
Cape Colony to know how soon Rhodes would come to meet 
him ! 

• The work of the soldier is being rapidly supplemented by 
the civil engineer. The diamond lands and gold mines of 
South Africa have been connected by rail with the principal 
ports, Cape Town and Port Ehzabeth. A railroad route is 
being estabhshed between Lake Victoria and the east coast, 
at Mombaza, while a hne is projected that will secure direct 
communication between Cairo and Cape Town. When this 
is done, Africa will, for all commercial purposes, belong to 
England. On the lower Niger, on the Gold Coast, and at 
Sierra Leone, Great Britain holds important commercial 

1 Omdiirman is across the river from Khartoum where Gordon was 
killed. 




Tropic of Capri: 

THE PARTITION OF 

AFRICA 

SCALE OF ENGLISH MILES 
200 400 600 800 1000 12 00 

EXPLANATION 

British Territory . 

French. 



f^ 



German 

Italian 

Portuguese 

Spanish 

Turkish 

Independent 



-R. Zamliesi 

I N D IAN 

O C £ A N 



n. 



10 



10 Lonsritude 20 



30 Greenwich 40 



BORMAY 4 00.,ENGR'S,N.y. 



Impelling Motive of British Imperial Policy 493 

posts, and maintains a " sphere of influence " sufficient to 
protect English traders venturing into the interior. 

The administration of these several territories varies with 
the degree of civilization prevailing among the colonists and 
with the nature of the control exercised by Great Britain. 
Cape Colony, where English settlers have political prepon- 
derance,^ enjoys responsible government. Natal is accorded 
representative institutions, while the wilder regions are gov- 
erned as crown colonies or merely acknowledge a British 
protectorate. 

Imperial Federation. — The vast extent of the British pos- 
sessions and the growing sense of common interest between 
the colonies and the mother-country have suggested various Traill, vi, 
projects for imperial federation. Joseph Chamberlain, as co- ^^o-^ss. 
lonial secretary in Lord Salisbury's cabinet, has done much to 
further this idea. The prominent place given to the colonial 
representatives at the recent Jubilee may serve to indicate 
the government policy. A federation of all the British de- 
pendencies would involve an imperial parliament in which 
each self-governing colony should be represented, and where 
all imperial affairs, such as trade, finance, military defence, 
should be discussed and determined. Each colony would 
remain as independent in internal administration as before, 
but all would gain strength and security from united action. 
There are many difficulties in the way of such a consumma- 
tion of British imperiaUsm, but it is likely to be attained in 
the near future. 

Impelling Motive of British Imperial Policy. — In the 
nineteenth, as in the eighteenth century, the determining 
motive in British colonial pohcy has been the opening up of 
commercial opportunity rather than territorial aggrandize- 
ment. A market must be furnished to Enghsh manufac- 
turers, and trade advantages secured to English ships. The 
monopoly method was discredited by the revolt of the 
American colonies. The economic incentive proved a more 

1 The native population of Cape Colony amounts (1891) to 1,150,000. 
Of the 377,000 Europeans, 38,500 are British-born. 



494 



The British Eynpire 



potent influence than legislation or treaty. America still 
furnished raw material in exchange for English manufactures, 
and the Atlantic trade actually increased after the separation. 
Holding first rank among commercial nations, Great 
Britain now asks no advantage but freedom to trade in all 
ports. The English race conquers and colonizes in order 
to maintain " the open door." 




INDEX 



Aberdeen, 439. 

Aborigines, 11. 

Acadia, settlement of, 409. 

Act, Agricultural Children's, 1873, 
483; Agricultural Holdings, 450; 
British North American, 487 ; Co- 
alition, 1800, 473 ; Conventicle, 335 ; 
Corporation, 335 ; Elementary Ed- 
ucation, 443; Factory, 434; Five- 
Mile Act, 336; Irish Land, 446, 
452; Laborers' Dwellings, 450; 
Land Purchase, 455; Licensing, 
1695, 368; Local Government for 
Ireland, 456, 461 ; Navigation, 326 ; 
Occasional Conformity, 374; Re- 
form, 1832, 433,434; Reform, 1867, 
442; Reform, 1884, 452; Regulat- 
ing, 421 ; Schism, 374 ; Septennial, 
377 ; Small Agricultural Holdings, 
484 ; Stamp, 392 ; Ten Hours, 475 ; 
Test, 1567, 256, 289; Test, 1673, 
341, 349, 350; Trades Union, 474; 
Triennial, 308, 368. 
Act of Amnesty, 333 ; Attainder, 363 ; 
Habeas Corpus, 345, 400 ; Security, 
372; Settlement, 362, 363, 368; 
Succession, 233 ; Supremacy, 230 ; 

233, 248, 278, 290 ; the Six Articles, 

234, 237; Toleration, 329, 362; 
Uniformity, the, 248, 256, 334, 338; 
Union, 373, 405, 444. 

Addington, 424. 

^lla and Cissa, 30. 

Afghan Wars, 490 n. 

Africa, 416, 447, 491; See Cape of 

Good Hope. 
Agincourt, battle of, 193. 
Agricultural Holdings Act, 450; 

Small, 484. 

495 



Agricola, 21. 

Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 385, 388, 

414. 
Alfred, 40, work of, for government, 
44, 45 ; for literature, 45-47 ; for in- 
dustry, 47. 
Alexandria, battle of, 403. 
America, 269, 280, 326, 336-337, 370, 
385, 388, 391 ; alienation of colo- 
nies, 392, 395; review of colonial 
affairs, 408 ; right of taxation, 416; 
independence, 416; effect of Na- 
poleonic wars, 427; War of 1812, 
427; Irish party in, 445; British 
America, 486. 
Amiens, peace of, 403, 423. 
Angles, 28. 

Anglo-Saxon civilization, 50-53; ag- 
riculture, 50; manufactures, 51; 
trade, 52; political organization, 53. 
Anne Boleyn, 225, 232, 233. 
Anne of Cleves, 235. 
Anne, Queen, 369, 374. 
Antigua, acquisition of, 409. 
Arch, Joseph, 483. 
Architecture, under Normans, 84; 
to death of Edward I, 145; in 
sixteenth century, 281. 
Argyle, Earl of, 348. 
Arkwright, Richard, 456, 470, 473. 
Armada, the, 260. 

Army, Folk-moot, 33; Alfred's, 41; 
William II's, 76; progression of, 
106 ; petition of right, 298 ; Crom- 
well's, 313, 314; "New Model," 
315, 318, 321; military rule, 325; 
counterpoised by navy, 326 ; cost, 
328 ; in power, 328 ; disbandment, 
334; under Charles II, 339: Test 



496 



Index 



Act, 341, 349; Irish army, 363, 
405 ; use of bayonet, 364 ; reduc- 
tion, 368 ; Hanoverians in army, 
384; Highland regiment, 386; re- 
organized by Pitt, 389; against 
Napoleon, 403; volunteers, 424; 
condition in Crimean War, 439 ; 
abolition of bought commissions, 
447 ; to-day, 461. 

Arthur, 30. 

Ashley. See Shaftesbury, 339, 342. 

Aske, Robert, 234. 

Assiento Grant, the, 374, 377, 381. 

Assingdun, battle of, 63. 

Assize of Clarendon, 98. 

Atbara, battle of, 491. 

Augustine in Britain, 33. 

Australia, 489. 

Austrian Succession, war of, 384, 
412, 414. 

Babington's plot, 259. 

Bacon, Lord, 295, 354. 

Bacon, Roger, 126, 284. 

Balfour, 461, 

Balliol, John, 139. 

Bank of England, 367, 429. 

Bannockburn, battle of, 153. 

Baptists, 335. 

Barbadoes, acquisition of, 409. 

Barbaric invasions, 26. 

Barnet, battle of, 201. 

Barons, War, the, 126, 130 ; revolt 

of, 103. 
Beaconsfield. See Disraeli. 
Beauford, Bishop, 194. 
Bechuanaland, 490. 
Becket, Thomas A, 97, 99, loi, 232, 
Bedford, dukes of, 194, 391. 
Berlin Decree, 425 ; Congress, 449. 
Bible, translated by Wiclif, 175 ; by 

Coverdale, 232; King James', 303. 
Bill of Attainder, 235, 307. 
Bill of Rights, 329, 362. 
Bishops, Trial of the Seven, 351. 
Black Death, the, 180, 204. 
" Black Hole " of Calcutta, 419. 
Black Prince, the, 157. 
Blake, Admiral, 326, 333, 410. 
Blenheim, battle of, 370. 



Bloody Assizes, 348. 

Board of Control, 421. 

Boers, 490. 

Bolingbroke, Henry, Duke of Here- 
ford, 163. 

Bolingbroke, Lord, 374, 376, 380, 390 ; 
his Patriot King, 390. 

Bonner, Bishop, 238. 

Bosworth Field, battle of, 203, 216. 

Bothwell, Earl of, 252. 

Bouvines, battle of, 121. 

Boyne, battle of the, 364. 

Breda, Declaration of, 329, 333 ; 
peace of, 337, 411, 

Bretigny, peace of, 159. 

Bretwalda, 37. 

Bright, John, 441, 456. 

British Columbia, 487. 

British Isles, the, area and population 
of, I ; relation to Europe of, 2 ; 
commercial advantages of, 3 ; navi- 
gable rivers of, 3 ; climate of, 4 ; 
industrial wealth of, 4; physical 
endowment of, 4; political divi- 
sions of, 5 ; relation of industrial 
opportunity to population in, 10; 
Aborigines of, 11, 12; first inter- 
course between the continent and, 
16; Roman conquest of, 19; ex- 
tent of the Roman province in, 21 ; 
character of Roman rule in, 22; 
Barbarian invasions of, 26 ; Saxon 
conquest of, and its effects, 28-32. 
See England, Ireland, Scotland, 
Wales. 

Bruce, Robert, 144, 153. 

Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke 
of, 291, 295, 296, 299. 

Bunyan, 329, 354. 

Burgh, Hubert de, 123, 127, 129. 

Burke, Edmund, 383, 393, 396, 398, 
400, 421 ; his Refiections ofi the 
French Revolution, 400. 

Burleigh, William Cecil, Lord, 248, 
256. 

Burns, 429. 

Bute, Lord, 390-392. 
Butler, Bishop, 387. 

Butt, Isaac, 450. 

Byron, 429. 



Index 



497 



Cabal, the, 391, 342. 

Cabots, the, 276, 409. 

Cade, Jack, 198. 

Calvin, John, 244. 

Camperdown, battle of, 403. 

Canada, 389, 409; Constitution 
granted, 422 ; British North Amer- 
ica Act, 487. 

Canals, 476. 

Canute, 62, 63. 

Cape Colony, 493. 

Cape of Good Hope, 408, 418, 427, 
490. 

Cape Vincent, battle of, 403. 

Carlyle, 485. 

Carolinas settled, 411. 

Carteret, 384. 

Cartwright, 467. 

Catharine of Aragon, 224, 229, 233, 
242. 

Cavaliers, 310. 

Caxton, William, 209. 

Cecil, Robert, 291. 

Celts, the, 13; first settlements, 17; 
conquered, 49. 

Cerdic, 30, 44. 

Chamberlain, Joseph, 456, 461, 493. 

Charles I, 292, 295, 320. 

Charles II, 321, 329, 332, 347. 

Charles Edward, Prince, 385. 

Charter, the Great, 109, 117, 121, 123, 
128 ; renewal of, 142. 

Charters, confirmation of, 143, 151, 
299. 

Chartists, 434, 437, 452, 457. 

Chatham, Earl of. See Pitt. 

Chatham-Grafton Ministry, the, 394. 

Chaucer, Geoffrey, 165. 
Christian Brethren, 228. 
Christianity, introduction of, in Eng- 
land, 33. 
Church, in Great Britain, first triumph 
of the Christian, 33 ; of the Saxon 
kingdoms, organized, 35, 36; con- 
version of the Danes, 59, 60; rela- 
tion to the state under the Norman 
kings, 83-86; quarrel with Henry 
11,98-101; quarrel with John, 118- 
120 ; the Friar Movement, 124-127 ; 
Edward I and the, 142 ; wealth and 



corruption of, fourteenth century, 
170-172; Wiclif and the reform 
movement, 173-175; Lollardism, 
175 ; the corruption of, in the fif- 
teenth century, 204 ; Protestant ref- 
ormation, 226-228; attack on the 
monasteries, 230 ; Act of Suprem- 
acy, 230 ; progress in doctrinal re- 
form, 232 ; Forty-two Articles, 239; 
persecution of the Protestant, 243 ; 
Test Act, 256 ; ecclesiastical policy 
of Elizabeth, 249, 253, 256, 263; 
independent sect in, 264; James I 
and the, 287 ; Hampton Court Con- 
ference, 288, 303 ; Commons and, 
299; Laud, 302; the question in 
1641, 308; the Covenant, 313; 
Charles and, 334; trial of the 
seven bishops, 351; William III 
and the revolution settlement, 361 ; 
the Methodist revival, 387 ; politi- 
cal influence on preferment, 394; 
the Irish, 404, 446. 
Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, 367, 

369, 371, 373- 
Churchill, Lord Randolph, 453. 
Cinque Ports, 274. 
Civil war, 155, 311 ; second civil war, 

320. 
Claim of Right, the, 364. 
Clarendon, Constitutions of, 100. 
Clarendon, Edward Hyde, Earl of, 

333. 337. 

Clarence, Duke of, 198. 

Claudius, invasion under, 19. 

Clive, Robert, 419, 420. 

Coalition Act, 473. 

Coalition, the, of 1783, 398. 

Cobbett, 430; his Weekly Political 
Register, 430. 

Colet, 283, 

Colonial enterprises, 408 ; their early 
character, 409; rivalry with Spain 
and Holland, 410; policy of the 
eighteenth century, 415 ; new pol- 
icy of, 421 ; rivals in, 410-414. 

Colonies, 336, 370, 374, 379, 380, 409 ; 
Ceylon and Trinidad retained, 403 ; 
acquisitions from Napoleonic wars, 
427 ; in British America, 486 ; India, 



2K 



498 



Inde^ 



489 ; Australia, 490 ; Africa, 491 ; 
imperial federation, 494. 

Commerce, advantages of England 
for, 3-4 ; principal harbors for, 3 ; 
Phoenician trading, 16; Saxon, 52; 
Norman revival of, 80; Angevin 
expansion of, 94, iii, 113; inter- 
ference of war with, 209; Tudor 
supremacy in, 268; Tudor explo- 
ration and, 276; Navigation Act, 
326 ; depression of under Charles 
II 337; review, 354-355 ; union with 
Scotland, 372 ; South Sea Bubble, 
377 ; colonial expansion, 380 ; free 
trade with France, 399; with Ire- 
land, 407; Berlin decree, 425; 
benefit from Napoleonic wars, 
427 ; fictitious prosperity, 431 ; 
free trade, 439; transportation, 
475; colonial, 486-494; imperial 
policy and ' the open door," 495. 

Commonwealth, the, 321, 329. 

Conservative party, 434. 

Constantine, 26. 

Conventicle Act. 335. 

Cook, Captain, 490. 

Coote, 420. 

Copenhagen battle of, 403. 

Corrv laws, 429 ; repealed, 435 ; ef- 
fects of, 448, 480, 482. 

Cornwallis, Lord, 421. 

Corporation Act, 335, 350. 

Council of Trent, 245. 

" Count of the Saxon Shore," 26. 

Counter-Reformation, the, 246. 

Court of Common Pleas, 133. 

Court of High Commission, 263, 303, 
308. 

Courtenay, Bishop, 174. 

Covenanters, 250, 306, 345. 

Cranmer, Archbishop, 230, 238, 239. 
241, 243. 

Crecy, battle of, 157, 193. 

Crimean War, 439. 

Crompton, Samuel, 467. 

Cromwell, Oliver, 310, 313, 321, 328, 

333. 411- 
Cromwell, Richard, 328. 
Cromwell, Thomas, 229, 233, 235. 
Crusades, 3, 107. 



Cuba, 391. 

Culloden, battle of, 385. 
Cumberland, Duke of, 385. 
Curia Regis, 73, 97, 100. 
Customs duties, 25, 151, 291, 299, 
379, 399. 436. 482; free trade, 437. 
Cymri, 30. 
Cyprus, acquisition of, 449. 

Danby, Earl of, 342. 

Danegeld, 62, 74, 99. 

Danelagh, 41, 69. 

Danes, the, or Northmen, 37, 41; 
migrations of, 56; settlements of, 
in Normandy, 57 ; in England, 60- 

63, 70- 
Darby, Abraham, 479. 
Darnley, Lord Henry, 252. 
David, 136. 
Declaration of Indulgence, 340-341, 

349. 351- 
Declaration of Rights, 354, 362. 

Derby, Lord, 441, 442. 
Dettingen, battle of, 384. 
Diarmit, King, 102. 
Disabling Act, 344. 
Disraeli, 440, 447, 449-452, 453. 
Domesday Survey, 73, 86, 89, 90. 
Dominica, battle oflF, 416. 
Dover, treaty of, 340, 411. 
Downs, the, battle of, 336. 
Drake, Sir Francis, 278. 
" Duke of the Britons," 26. 
Dunbar, battles of, 140, 323. 
Dunning's Resolution, 397. 
Dunstan, Archbishop, 49. 

Ealdormen, 60. 

East India Company, 277, 416, 488. 

Ecclesiastical Unity, attainnient of, 

35. 

Edgar, 49. 

Edgehill, battle of, 313. 

Edinburgh, treaty of, 251. 

Edmund Ironside, 63. 

Edric, 63. 

Education, Alfred's schools, 46 ; intel- 
lectual advances, 82; universities, 
no; friars, 126; English used in 
schools, 164; Eton founded, 209; 



htdex 



499 



the new learning of the Tudors, 
282; foundingof grammar schools, 
283; Act of Uniformity, 334; 
Schism Act, 374; board schools, 
443 ; religious tests abolished in 
universities, 447; for factory chil- 
dren, 475 ; university extension, 

485. 

Edward the Confessor, 64. 

Edward the Elder, 47, 49. 

Edward I, 132, 144, 427. 

Edward II, 152, civil war and abdi- 
cation, 155. 

Edward III, 156; French wars, 156. 

Edward IV, 200, 209. 

Edward VI, 236. 

Edwin, 33. 

Egypt, 403 ; Egyptian Question, 453, 

493- 

Election petitions, 381. 

Elector Palatine, 292, 294. 

Eliot, Sir John, 291, 297, 300. 

Elizabeth, Queen, 240, 242, 244, 265. 

England, facilities for commerce, 3; 
industrial divisions of, 6 ; early 
inhabitants, 11-18; Roman rule 
of, 19-26 ; Saxon conquest and its 
effects on, 28-35 I Danish rule in, 
60-63 ; Norman conquest of, 67 ; 
results of, 82; development of, 
under the early Angevins, 94-ni ; 
organization of the judiciary, 132 ; 
intellectual revival during the four- 
teenth century in, 164; industrial 
progress, 176; wages, 181, 207; 
the people, 206; intellectual de- 
cadence in the fifteenth century, 
209 ; age of transition, 214 ; finan- 
cial measures, 218 ; foreign policy 
under Henry VII, 220; arbiter of 
Europe, 224 ; position at time of 
Elizabeth, 246; foreign affairs 
under Elizabeth, 253 ; transforma- 
tion of England under the Tudors, 
268 ; agricultural revolution, 271 ; 
decay of towns, 292; growth of 
manufactures, 273 ; Tudor explora- 
tion and commerce, 276 ; change 
in order of society, 278 ; social 
habits, 281 ; beginning of maritime 



supremacy, 327 ; union with Scot- 
land, 372; union with Ireland, 
405 ; Colonial undertakings, 408 ; 
Imperial policy, 410; Eastern Ques- 
tion, 438; local government, 456; 
Socialism, 457 ; canals, 476 ; trans- 
portation, 476; agricultural revo- 
lution, 476. See British Isles, Scot- 
land, Ireland. 

Erasmus, 283. 

Essex, earls of, 263, 313, 315. 

Ethelflasda, 47, 49. 

Ethelred the Unready, 60. 

Ethelwulf, 40. 

Europe, relation of British Isles to, 2. 

Evesham, battle of, 132. 

Exchequer, the, 133. 

Exclusion Bill, 344, 346. 

Factory Acts, 434, 475. 

Falkirk, battle of, 144. 

Falkland, 310. 

Fashoda, 493. 

Fawkes, Guy, 289. 

Fenians, 445. 

Feudal system inaugurated, 72; ap- 
plied to the church, 85 ; last feudal 
rising, 104; destroyed as a system 
of government, 106; killed by 
statute of Quia Etitptores, 133; 
Reversion to, 206, 292 ; Dues abol- 
ished, 334. 

Field of the Cloth of Gold, 223. 

Filmer, 354. 

Finance: Industrial Wealth, 4; 
Coinage, 81 ; The Domesday Sur- 
vey, 73, 86, 89, 90; Measures, 
Policies, or Conditions of, during 
successive reigns: — Henry II, 
104; Richard I, 109; John, 122; 
Henry III, 127; Edward I, 133, 
149; Edward II, 153,159; Richard 
II, 163, 172, 181; Henry IV, 188; 
Edward IV, 202; Henry VII, 
218-220; Henry VIII, 226, 239; 
Elizabeth, 264, 279-281; James I, 
290, 292, 294; Charles I, 296, 300, 
303, 311; Cromwell, 325; Charles 
II» 334; William III, 362; George 
I, 379; George III, 392, 399, 403; 



500 



Index 



French pension, 340, 342, 348 ; 

National Debt, 357 ; South Sea 

Bubble, 377 ; Walpole, 379 ; Pitt the 

younger, 399; peace of Amiens, 

403 ; Napoleonic War Debt, 428 ; 

the Crimean War,- 440; Home 

Rule, 455. 
Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, 233. 
Fitz-Peter, Geoffrej/, 108, 120. 
Five-Mile Act, 336. 
Flanders, loss of, 162 ; artisans from, 

176. 
Flodden, battle of, 224. 
Forty-two Articles, 239. 
Fox, Chas, James, 395, 397, 398, 400, 

401, 423. 
France, war with, 117, 139, 156, 192, 

370,401,411. 
Frederick of Prussia, 391. 
Free Trade, 437. 
French Possessions, loss of, 195. 
French Revolution, the, 399 ; effect 

in England, 428, 429, 430,431; in 

1848, 437. 
Friar Movement, the, 124. 
Frobisher, 409. 
Fulton, 476. 

Gardiner, Bishop, 238, 240. 

Gaveston, Piers, 152. 

George 1,375-378. 

George II, 375, 378, 389. 

George III, 390, 392, 395. 

George IV, 431, 

Ghent, treaty of, 427. 

Gibraltar captured, 370, 414, 416, 422. 

Gilbert, 409. 

Gilds, Merchants', 112; Craftgilds, 

179, 181 ; decay of, 273 ; effect of, 

466. 
Gladstone, 442, 445, 447, 449, 452, 

453. 456, 459- 
Glendower, Owen, 190. 
Gloucester, Duke of, 162, 194, 202. 
Godolphin, Lord, 369. 
Godwin, Earl of Wessex, 64. 
Gordon, General, 453. 
Goschen, 456. 
Goths, 28. 
Grafton, 394. 



Grand Assize, 98. 

Grand Remonstrance, the, 310, 

"Great Intercourse, the" (treaty), 

276. 
Great Schism, the, 172. 
Grenville, 391, 392, 416. 
Grey, Lady Jane, 240, 242. 
Grey, Lord, 401, 431, 432, 433, 458. 
Grosseteste, Bishop, 128, 129. 
Gunpowder Plot, 289, 

Habeas Corpus Act, 345, 400. 

Hadrian, 24. 

Hales, Sir Edmund, 349. 

Hampden, 310. 

Hampden Clubs, 430. 

Hargreaves, 467, 473. 

Harley,-Earl of Oxford, 373, 376. 

Harold, 63. 

Hartington, Lord, 456. 

Hastings, the Dane, raid of, 41-44. 

Hastings, battle of, 67. 

Hastings, Warren, 421. 

Hawkins, 278. 

Heads of the Proposals, 318. 

Hengist and Horsa, 30. 

Henry I, 76. 

Henry II, 93; condition of England, 

94 ; position on the continent, 95 ; 

pacification of England, 96. 
Henry III, the minority of, 123; rule 

of, 127. 
Henry IV, 188. 
Henry V, 191 ; war with France, 

192-193. 
Henry VI, 194-200, 201. 
Henry VII, 214. i 
Henry VIII, 220. 
Heptarchy, 36. 
Hereford, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke 

of, 163. 
Hereward the Wake, 70. 
Hertford, Earl of, 237. 
Hobbes, 354. . 
Holland, maritime growth of, 304; 

war with, 341, 401 ; colonial rivalry 

with, 410, 411 ; decline of, 411, 
Home Rule Bill, 455. 
Honorius, 28. 
Hooker, 284. 



Index 



501 



Hotspur, 190. 

Howard, John, 387. 

Howe, Lord, 401. 

Hudson's Bay, acquisition of, 414. 

Hyde, 310. See Clarendon. 

Iberians, the, 12. 

Important events, Hsts of, 54, 91, 
114, 146, 184, 211, 265, 330, 356, 
406, 427, 463. 

Independents, 314. 

India, 385, 388, 389, 391, 403, 408, 
418; sketch ot history, 416; Regula- 
tion Act, 421 ; Eastern Question, 
438, 447 ; Sepoy mutiny, 488 ; re- 
view, 488. 

India Bill, 398. 

Industry, industrial wealth, 4; early 
industry: 12; Roman, 23; Saxon, 
47,50; Norman, 89; progression, 
176, 268-274, 302, 327, 354, 379; 
Irish industry throttled, 404; im- 
portation of raw material from col- 
onies, 415 ; Berlin Decree, 425 ; 
fictitious prosperity, 428 ; Factory 
Act, 434; industrial revolution, 
466; inventions, 469, 486; capital 
and labor, revolt of labor, 472 ; fac- 
tory legislation, 475 ; factory com- 
mission, 475 ; Ten Hours Act, 476 ; 
transportation, 475; ship-building, 
476 ; mining, 478 ; agricultural rev- 
olution, 480. See Gilds, Wages, 
Finance, Commerce. 

Instrument of government, 324. 

Inventions, 466-470, 472, 475, 482. 

Ionian Isles, 427. 

Ireland, industrial and physical fea- 
tures, 9 ; early affairs, loi ; conquest 
of in the time of Henry II, 102; 
under English rule, 103 ; under the 
Tudors, 260; revolt, 309; conquest 
of, 321 ; representation accorded in 
Parliament, 324 ; revolution against 
William III, 362; legislative inde- 
pendence granted, 397 ; attempt at 
commercial freedom, 399; union 
with England, 404-405 ; laws 
against Catholics in, 404; destruc- 
tion of industries in, 404; indepen- 



dent Irish parliament, 404, 405 ; 
famines, 436, 445 ; review of affairs 
in, 444; Catholic emancipation, 
444; disestablishment of Church, 
446; home rule, 450, 455, 456; the 
Nationalists, 451; Land Act, 452; 
National League, 456 ; Local Gov- 
ernment Act, 461. 
Irish, loi, 103, 119, 217, 260, 301, 

307. 309. 321, 353. 362, 379. 403- 
Ironsides, 314. 

Jacobites, 361, 366, 375, 385, 390. 

Jamaica, acquisition of, 411. 

James I, 286. 

James II, 347, 353, 362, 364, 367, 369. 

Jameson, 390. 

Jeffreys, Judge, 348. 

Jesuits, 246, 257, 353. 

Jews, imder royal protection, 81; 
banished by Edward 1, 134; return 
of, 328. 

Joan of Arc, 195. 

John, revolt of, against Henry II, 
106; against Richard I, 108; ac- 
cession, 116; revolt of barons 
against, 120, 121 ; death, 123. 

John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, 
161, 172, 182. 

Julius Caesar, 19. 

"Junius," 394. 

Junto, the, 367, 368. 

Jury system, 98. 

Jutes, 280 

Kaffir War, 490. 
Kay, John, 467, 473. 
Ket the tanner, 239. 
Khartoum, 453. 
Killiecrankie, battle of, 364. 
King William's War, 412. 
King's Bench, 133. 
Kingsley, 485. 

Kitchener, Sir Herbert, 491. 
Knox, John, 251. 
Kruger, Paul, 490. 

Labor. See Commerce, Industry, 

Finance. 
Laborers' Dwellings Act, 450. 



502 



Index 



Labouchere, 459. 

La Hogue, battle of, 366. 

Lancaster, Duke of. See John of 

Gaunt. 
Lancaster, Thomas, Earl of, 152, 164, 

202. 
Land Act, 446 ; Irish, 452. 
Land Purchase Act, 455. 
Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, 

85. 

Langland, William, 165, 167. 

Langton, Stephen, 48, 122, 123 ; 
death of, 128. 

Latimer, Bishop, 207, 227, 241, 243. 

Laud, Bishop, 300, 302, 308. 

Laurier, Sir Wilfrid, 487. 

Law, in England, under the Romans, 
21-23 > under the Anglo-Saxons, 
33, 44. 45 ; Edgar's, 53, 54, 63, 72 ; 
under William I, 72, 73 ; under 
William Rufus, 74, 76; under 
Henry I, 76 ; reforms of the, 
under Henry of Anjou, 97, 98 ; 
the Great Charter, 121 ; develop- 
ment of, under Edward I, 132; the 
Ordinances of the time of Edward 
n, 153-155; regulation of wages 
and labor by, 180-182, 218 ; 
strengthened by Henry VH, 218; 
the new order under Elizabeth, 
278-282; religious issues under 
James, 287; Charles, 306-310; the 
Commonwealth, 321; Charles H, 
333-336; the Revolution of 1688, 
353 ; its results, 358-361 ; William 
HI, 361-367; corruption of the 
times of George I, 383 ; reform 
movement of 1770-1784, 395 ; of 
1815,428-437; of 1832, 440; more 
recent important changes in, 449- 
457; in church matters, 172, 189, 
227, 230, 232, 237, 243, 248, 256, 
290, 299, 300, 306, 308, 313, 328, 

324, 338, 349. 351. 361-363. 444. 

446. See also Act, Statute, etc. 
Leicester, Earl of, 254, 259. See 

Montfort. 
Levellers, the, 327. 
Lewes, battle of, 131. 
Liberal party, 434. 



Licensing Act, 368. 

Limerick, treaty of, 364, 404, 

Lincoln, battle of, 79. 

Literature, under Alfred, 45; under 

Henry I, 80, 109; thirteenth 

century, 144; revival, 164-170; 

printing, 209; renaissance, 282; 

at close of seventeenth century, 

354; liberty of the press, 368; 

Swift, 379; exponents of new 

ideal, 485. See Bible. 
Llewelyn, 136. 
Local Government Act, 456; Irish, 

461. 
Locke, 354. 

Lollards, the, 175, 181, 189, 204. 
London, 18 ; charter granted, 91 ; fire 

of. 337 ; charter confiscated, 346. 
Longchamp, William, Bishop, 107. 
Lord Marchers, the, 69, 190. 
Lords Appellant, 162, 188, 202. 
Lords of the Congregation, 250. 
Lords Ordainers, the, 153. 
Lowe, Robert, 443. 
Lowestoft, battle of, 336. 
Lud, god of commerce, 18. 
Luddites, the, 473. 
Luneville, treaty of, 403. 
Luther, Martin, 226, 229. 

Mahratta War, 420. 

Malcolm of Scotland, 70. 

Malmesbury, William of, no. 

Malplaquet, battle of, 371. 

Malta, 424, 427. 

Manchester Massacre, 430. 

Manitoba, 487. 

Manwaring, 300. 

Mar, Earl of, 376. 

Margaret of Anjou, 196-199. 

Maria Theresa, 384. 

Marlborough. See Churchill. 

Marston Moor, battle of, 314. 

Mary Stuart, 235, 237, 249, 251, 256, 

259, 260. 
Mary, Queen, 239. 
Matilda, 76. 
Mauritius, 427. 
Mercenaries, 63, 79, 96, 104, 121, 122, 

384. 



Index 



503 



Millenary Petition, 288. 

Milton, 329, 354. 

Minorca, acquisition of, 414 ; cession 

of, 416. 
Mise of Amiens, T31. 
Monasteries, suppression of, 230. 
Monk, General, 328. 
Monmouth, Duke of, 348. 
Montague, 300, 367. 
Montfort, Simon de, 129, 132, 202, 
Montrose, 316. 

Montserrat, acquisition of, 409. 
More, Sir Thomas, 233, 283. 
Morris, William, 486. 
Mortimer, Roger, 155. 
Mortimer. See Cade, Jack. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, 401, 403, 423; 
Berlin Decree, 425 ; Peninsular 
War, 426. 

Naseb)\ battle of, 316. 

Natal, 490. 

Nationalists, 451, 453, 458, 460. 

National League, 456. 

Navigation Act, 326, 411. 

Navy, 43, 209, 260, 270, 274, 304, 320, 
326, 337, 389, 403, 410; after Traf- 
algar, 427; War of 1812, 427; 
demonstration at Constantinople, 
449 ; to-day, 461. 

Nelson, Lord, 326, 403, 424. 

Neville, George, Archbishop, 204. 

New Brunswick, 487. 

Newcastle, Duke of, 384, 388, 390. 

Newcastle Propositions, the, 316. 

Newfoundland, 414, 487. 

New South Wales, 489. 

Newspapers, 368. 

Newton, Sir Isaac, 368. 

New Zealand, 489. 

Nile, battle of, 403. 

Nonjurors, 362. 

Non-resistance, doctrine of, 335, 351, 
372. 

Norfolk, Duke of, 256. 

Norman Conquest, 67 ; social result 
of, 79; intellectual results, 82; life 
of people under, 86 ; administra- 
tion of local government, 89. 

Normandy, 57; loss of, 117, 196. 



North, Lord, 394, 397, 398, 421. 
North Briton, the, 392. 
Northampton, battle of, 200. 
Northmen, 56-57, 102. 
Northumberland, dukes of, 239, 256^. 
Nova Scotia, 414, 422, 487. 

Gates, Titus, 344. 

Occasional Conformity Act, 374. 

O'Connell, Daniel, 444. 

O'Connor, Feargus, 437. 

Odo, Bishop, 75. 

Omdurman, battle of, 491. 

O'Neill, Shane, 262. 

Ontario, 487. 

"Open door," the, 494. 

Orders in Council, the, 426, 427. 

Ordinances, the, 153; repealed, 155. 

Oudenarde, battle of, '370. 

Owen, Robert, 474. 

Paleolithic Man, 11. 

Palmerston, Lord, 438, 440, 441. 

Pandulf, 120. 

Paris, peace of, 390, 395, 414, 416, 
420 ; treaty of, 440. 

Parliament, first use of the name of, 
129; of Oxford, or the Mad Par- 
liament, 130; of 1265, 131; Model 
Parliament, 142; organization of. 
Houses of Lords and Commons, 
160; Good Parliament, 161, 172; 
the Merciless Parliament, 163 ; first 
use of English in, 164; Long Par- 
liament, 229 ; under Elizabeth, 264 ; 
Addled Parliament, 291 ; Short 
Parliament, 306; Long Parliament, 
307, 323, 326, 338 ; Rump Parlia- 
ment, 321, 328 ; Barebones' Parlia- 
ment, 324 ; redistribution of seats, 
324 ; Convention Parliament, 333 ; 
Cavalier Parliament, 334, 338 ; 
Tory Parliament, 348 ; Disabling 
Act, 344; under William lU, 358; 
Dublin . Parliament, 363 ; Whig 
ministry, 367; Tory ministry, 368 ; 
union with Scotland. 373 ; review 
to fall of Walpole, 381 ; political 
corruption, 383, 394; reform, 395, 
397,398,401,428; jurisdiction over 



504 



Index 



India, 420 ; the Radical Party, 430 ; 

Reform Bill, 430; its effect, 433; 

reform under Disraeli, 440, 442 ; 

extension of suffrage, 442, 452, 484 ; 

Catholic emancipation, 444; secret 

ballot, 447 ; closure adopted, 452 ; 

Canadian, 487. See Witan and 

Curia Regis. 
Parnell, Charles Stewart, 451, 455,459. 
Patrick, St., 33, 53. 
Pauperism and its relief, 279, 432; 

poor law, 434, 484. 
Peel, Sir Robert, 436, 444, 455, 470, 

473. 474- 
Pelham, Henry, 384, 388. 
Pembroke, William Marshall, Earl 

of, 123. 
Penda, 33. 

Peninsular War, 426. 
Pennsylvania settled, 411. 
People's Charter, 435, 438. 
Perrers, Alice, 161. 
Petition and Advice, the, 325. 
Petition of Right, 298, 301. 
Philip of Spain, 242. 
Philiphaugh, battle of, 316. 
Philippines, 391. 
Phoenicians, 16. 
Picts, 21, 26. 

Pilgrimage of Grace, the, 234. 
Pinkie, battle of, 237. 
Pitt, William, 386, 388, 390, 391, 395 ; 

the younger, son of above, 398, 

400, 403, 405, 421, 443. 
Plague, the, 336-337. 
" Plan of Campaign," 456. 
Plassey, battle of, 420. 
Plautius, 19, 20, 
Poitiers, battle of, 157. 
Pondicherry, surrender of, 420. 
Poor Law, 434. See Pauperism. 
Popes: Gregory VII, 85; Innocent 

III, 118; England and the Pope, 

128; Innocent IV, 128, 130; revolt 

of Europe against, 214. 
Popish Plot, 343. 
Poyning, Sir Edward, 260. 
Prehistoric inhabitants, 11. 
Presbyterianism, 257. 
Preston, battles of, 320, 376. 



Pretenders, the : James Edward, 
369, 370. 374. 376; Charles Ed- 
ward, 385. 

Pride's Purge, 320. 

Prime Minister, first, 381. 

Prince Edward's Island, 487. 

Prison reform, 387, 489. 

Privateering, 278. 

Protector, the, 324. 

Provisions of Oxford, 131. 

Pularoon relinquished, 411. 

Puritans, 256, 263, 287, 288, 301, 303, 

314- 329. 347- 
Pym, John, 291, 307, 310, 313, 333. 

Quakers, 335. 

Quebec, fall of, 389, 414, people, 487. 

" Queen Anne's War," 412. 

Queensland, 489. 

Quiberon, battle of, 389. 

Radical party, the, 430. 

Railroads, 470, 477 ; in Canada, 487. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 278, 294, 409. 

Ramillies, battle of, 370. 

Ranulf, the justiciar, 74-76. 

Reform Bill, of 1832, 430, 433, 434; 
Act of, 1867, 442; of 1884, 452; 
movement, 1779, 396, 428. 

Reformation, the Protestant, 3, 226, 

Regulating Act, 421. 

Reign of Terror in France, 399. 

Renaissance, the English, 3, 282. 

Restoration of the Stuarts, 329. 

Revolt of the barons, 103 ; peasants, 
175-181; under Glendower, 190; 
under Oldcastle, 191 ; Cade's, 198 ; 
the Pilgrimage of Grace, 234; under 
Ket, 239 ; Wyatt's, 242; Irish peas- 
ants, 405 ; Chartist, 437 ; Fenian, 
445 ; the Luddites, 472. 

Revolution, French, 3, 399. 

Rhodes, Sir Cecil, 493. 

Rich, Edmund, 129. 

Richard de Clare, Strongbow, 102. 

Richard I, 107 ; a crusader, 107, 108 ; 
influence in England of, 108, 109. 

Richard II, 162. 

Richard III, 202, 

Richmond, Duke of, 397. 



Index 



505 



Richmond, Henry Tudor, Earl of. 'x^'^. 

Ridley, Bishop, 243. 

Ridolfi, plot, the, 256. 

Rizzio, 252. 

Robert, Duke of Normandy, 74-77. 

Robin of Redesdale, 201, 

Roches, Peter des. Bishop, 127. 

Rochester, Earl of, 349. 

Rockingham, Lord, 391-394, 397,405. 

Rockingham Ministry, the, 392, 397. 

Rodney, 416. 

Rollo the Ganger, 59, 63. 

Romans, the, conquest of Britain by, 
19, 21 ; the gains of Britain under 
the rule of, 23 ; losses, 25 ; colonies 
of, 20 ; colonial life of, 23 ; roads 
of, 23. 

Rosebery, Lord, 459, 460, 478. 

Roundheads, 310. 

Rupert, Prince, 313. 

Ruskin, 487. 

Russell, Admiral, 366, 367. 

Russell, Lord, 347, 431, 434, 441. 

Rye House plot, 346. 

Ryswick, peace of, 366. 

Sacheverell, Doctor, 372, 

St. Albans, battle of, 198. 

St. Helena, 411. 

St. John, Henry, 371, 374. 

Salic law, 156. 

Salisbury, Lord, 453, 455. 456, 457, 
460, 461, 491, 493. 

Salisbury oath, the, 73, 74. 

Saxons, the invasion of Britain by, 
26 ; conquest, the, 28 ; effects of 
conquest by, 32. 

Schism Act, 374. 

Scots, 8, 21, 26, 69, 97, 104, 119, 137, 
143- 153. 189, 217, 224, 23s, 237, 249, 
305. 309. 313. 316, 320, 348, 364. 

Scotland, industrial and physical fea- 
tures, 8 ; conquered by William I, 
70 ; revolt against Edward I, 139 ; 
conquest of, 140-144 ; loss of, 153 ; 
revolt against Henry IV, 190; de- 
feat at Solway Moss, 235 ; at Pinkie, 
237 ; revolt against France, 250 ; 
against Charles I, 306; royalist 
invasion, 320; invasion of, 323; 



representation accorded in Parlia- 
ment, 324; revolution against Wil- 
liam HI, 364; union with England, 
372; Jacobite insurrection, 376; 
second Jacobite insurrection, 385 ; 
Local Government Act, 456 ; Crof- 
ters' agitation, 457. 

Scrope, Archbishop of York, 190. 

Scutage, 104. 

Sebastopol, fall of, 440. 

Second Hundred Years' War, 413. 

Sedgemoor, battle of, 348. 

Self-denying ordinance, 315. 

Sepoys, 419, 420. 

Septennial Act, 377. 

Serfs, 34, 50, 86, 88, 90, 179, 180-184. 
See Villeins. 

Seven Years' War, 388, 412, 419. 

Shaftesbury, Earl of, 342, 345. 

Shakespeare, 284. 

Shelburne, Lord, 397, 416. 

Shelley, 429. 

Sheridan, 403, 421. 

Sheriffmuir, battle of, 376. 

Simnel, Lambert, 216. 

Slave trade, 53, 89, 374, 388, 434. 

Society of Jesus, 246. 

Solemn League and Covenant, 313. 

Solway Moss, battle of, 235. 

Somers, 367. 

Somerset, dukes of, 197, 198, 237, 
238. 

Somerset, Earl of, 291. 

Sophia, Electress of Hanover, 368. 

Soudan insurrection, 453, 492. 

" South Sea Bubble," 377. 

Spenser, 284. 

Stamford Bridge, battle of, &]. 

Stamp Act, 392 ; repealed, 393. 

Stanhope, 377, 380. 

Star Chamber, Court of, 218, 292, 
301, 303, 308. 

Statutes of, Mortmain, 133; Quia 
Emptores, 133 ; Winchester, 133 ; 
Wales, 136; Praemunire, 172; 
Provisors, 172; of Laborers, 181; 
against Heretics, 189-191 ; Main- 
tenance and Livery, 206, 218. 

Steamboats, 471, 476, 487. 

Stephen, 77. 



5o6 



Index 



Stephenson, George, 477, 
Stoke, battle of, 217. 
Stourbridge Fair, 113. 
Strafford, Earl of. :i,ee Wentworth. 
Suez Canal, 489. 
-Sunderland, Earl of, 349, 377. 
Swift, Jonathan, 373-379. 
Sydney, Algernon, 347. 
Symington, William, 476. 

Tasmania, 489. 

Taxation, the right of, 149; first reg- 
ular levy on personal property, 
109. See Finance. 

Ten Articles, 232. 

Ten Hours Act, 475. 

Test Act, the, 256, 289, 341, 349, 350. 

Teutons, 28. 

Tewkesbury, battle of, 201. 

Thegns, 33, 52, 205. 

Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop, 36. 

Thirty-nine Articles, 256, 290. 

Thirty Years' War, 294, 326, 411. 

Tinchebrai, battle of, 77. 

Tories, 346, 361 ; the "fourth party," 

453- 
Tower of London, the, 71, 76. 
Townshends, the, 376, 377. 
Townshend import duties, 394. 
Towton Field, battle of, 200. 
Trade Union Act, 473. 
Trafalgar, battle of, 424, 427. 
Transvaal Republic, 490. 
Trial by ordeal, 98. 
Triennial Bill, 308, 368, 377. 
Triple Alliance, the, 340, 377. 
Troyes, treaty of, 193. 
Tyndale, William, 228. 
Tyrconnel, 363. 
Tyrone, Earl of, 262, 301. 

" Ulster Right," 446. 

Union, Act of, 405; of England and 

Scotland, 372. 
Unity of Early England, the, 35-37 ; 

Attainment of Ecclesiastical, 35; 

Postponement of Political, 36, 
Unitarians, 362. 
Utrecht, treaty of, 374, 376-377, 380, 

414. 



Vandals, 28. 

Vane, Sir Henry, 326, 333. 

Vasco da Gama, 418. 

Versailles, treaty of, 416. 

Victoria, 434 ; Jubilee, 457; Diamond 
Jubilee, 461 ; Empress of India, 488. 

Victoria (Australia), 489. 

Vienna, Congress of, 490. 

Vikings, the, 38 ; a ship of, 40 ; 
repulsed by Alfred, 43 ; migrations 
of, 56; settlements of, 57 ; in Nor- 
mandy, 57-59; in England, 60-63. 

Villeins, 88, 122, 182. See Serfs. 

Virginia, settlement of, 410. 

Wages, 181, 207, 269, 355, 429, 473, 

474. 480, 483- 

Wakefield, battle of, 200. 

Wales, industrial and physical fea- 
tures, area, 7, 8 ; conquered by 
Ethelflaeda, 48; conquest of, 134; 
revolt against Edward I, 139; re- 
volt under Glendower, 190; insur- 
rection, 320; Local Government 
Act, 456. 

Wales, Statute of, 136. 

Wallace, William, 143. 

Wallingford, Treaty of, 79, 96, 109. 

Walpole, Sir Robert, 377, 378, 381, 
392, 414, 415. 

Walter, Hubert, Archbishop, 108, 118. 

Wandewash, battle of, 420. 

War of the Austrian succession, 384, 
412, 414. 

War of the Spanish succession, 412. 

Warbeck, Perkin, 317. 

Wars of the Roses, 198 ; political re- 
volts, 202 ; resultant state of coun- 
try, 203. 

Warwick, earls of, 198, 200, 201, 204, 

239. 
Watt, James, 468, 476, 479. 
Wat Tyler, 182, 483. 
Waterloo, battle of, 426. 
Wedmore, Treaty of, 41. 
Wellesley. See Wellington. 
Wellington, Duke of 403, 426, 431, 

433. 437- 444- 
Welsh, 31, 34, 37, 69, 97, 102, 119, 
134, 139, 143, 190, 320. 



Index 



507 



Wentworth, Sir Thomas, 291, 298, 

301. 305. 306, 308. 
Wesley, John, 386. 
West Australia, 490. 
Westminster Abbey, 69. 
Westmoreland, Earl of, 256. 
Wharton, 367. 
Whigs, 346, 361. 
Whitfield, 387. 

Whittington, Sir Richard, 209. 
Wiclif, John, 173. 
Wilkes, John, 392, 394. 
William I, 69. 
William II, 74. 
William of Orange, 341, 343, 351, 

353. 369- 



William IV, 431. 

Winchester, Statute of, 133. 

Witan or Witenagemot, 62, 66, 72, 

73- 458. 
Wolsey, Thomas, Cardinal, 222, 226, 

227, 229. 
Woodstock, Council of, 99. 
Worcester, battle of, 323. 
Wordsworth, 429. 
Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 242. 

York, dukes of, 197, 198, 200, 342-343, 
Yorktown, surrender of, 397. 
Young, Arthur, 480. 
Young Patriots, 380, 388. 



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